Nintendo Scraps The Sale Of Digital Game Download Codes At European Retailers

Looks like Microsoft is the only one left that sells game download codes, @NEStalgia.

A bigger slice of the pie, can see their reasoning ... even if it appears greedy

Why though, its so simple and it makes a great gift! You dont need to worry about losing the game you would just need to put in the code and thats it!

A shame, Shopto had some decent discounts on their codes. Probably why Nintendo would want to end this.

@PotatoPancake It would be nice if removing this would allow to gift the games to friends like om Steam, I use that method often if not codes.

@mesome713 you forget 1 thing, physical download codes may be stupid but this also stops digital download code sales from online stores, even the legit ones like Play-Asia or Fanatical.

This is interesting. I wonder what prompted this now? Rather than any other time, and also why in Europe and not US and Japan?

@PotatoPancake they might still sell the codes at their own online store and the eshop cards are also still available

@popey1980,

And you can't spell Nintendo without the word GREEDY!!

@MS7000 I don't know for sure but from what I heard Nintendo compared to Sony sells EU game codes "for EU" and not specific EU countries. (very comparable to the PC market, but that is even more complex because of germany and certain games being banned/altered there)

For example a UK PSN game code will not work on a French PSN account, same goes other way around but on Nintendo that difference is not there it seems.

So what does this mean? Some retailers buy their codes from countries where it is cheaper because they don't use british pounds or euro, that way they can legally sell it for less (and yes it really is legal, they just got legal EU codes from a cheaper country)

That's how some places sell certain games for 5 or 10 euro less, because they got it legally cheaper elsewhere (but some stores are less fair and buy the codes cheap but sell them anyhow for full price, also physical retail stores can't use this method)

But that what I heard, I myself don't know the specifics.

Meanwhile these still sell like hotcakes in Japan

@Rayquaza2510 That is interesting if true. I am somewhat surprised that the codes are not already separate for each country in that case.

@MS7000 Creating different codes for different countries in EU would make the whole system a mess.

There are SOME separations but not a lot.

More greed from Nintendo. This is a sad day for me. Back to physical purchases again for me.

Kind of understandable as it'll mean you'll potentially no longer lose the code for said game and a bigger profit for Nintendo. It sucks, but what can you do.

Guess they got wind of people saving money on places like ShopTo with the recent release of Animal Crossing

Wondering if this decision is actually for other countries as well. The Brazilian eShop only sold game codes and is non-operational since the 28th. Same for other Latin American stores.

Download code cards are indeed redundant unless you're purchasing them as gifts, but there is another possible reason for this move by Nintendo. Gift card fraud has become so rampant in recent years that many retailers have been forced to create policies such as no longer selling them unless a manager is present, and absolutely no exchanging gift cards for other gift cards. There are rings operating here in the US that have developed various methods for stealing activated cards, and when that happens both the stores and the card issuers lose.

While I can't confirm this played into Nintendo's decision, it wouldn't be surprising. After all, digital theft is still lost revenues.

More money more money. Nintendo berry happy

@AtlanteanMan Kids in game shops who have birthday money to spend but don't want a physical edition? Maybe isn't an issue for you or I, but a big part of the Nintendo demographic is children who don't have debit/credit cards I suppose. That and gifting are the only instances I can really think of though where those cards would be put to any use.

The bigger loss is the sale prices from sites like ShopTo for the codes.

I'm confused, does this also apply to digital codes from the likes of CD Keys and ShopTo (i.e. that they email to you)?

If so that's kinda of a big deal, as they often have sales which make digital games significantly cheaper than aquiring them directly from the eShop (I bought an Animal Crossing code for £32, for example).

@BenAV @mesome713 @AtlanteanMan Kinda forgetting that these codes are often cheaper than the eShop which is why people love them

@mesome713 as someone who has ordered codes from ShopTo on more than one occasion, these were digital codes delivered via their website.

I'll be sad to see this go, as getting 20-30% off the eshop price always felt good. I wonder what the reasoning was to do this only in the EU.

@YonVonBlett indeed, I think a number of people have misunderstood what this means, it can't possibly be a good thing for the consumer.

As an example, ShopTo have a digital code for 51 Worldwide Games for £27 at the moment. As I understand it, that option will be gone tomorrow.

@Grumblevolcano For now.

Though to be fair, this is not affecting NA yet, apparently. Makes me wonder if it's really a Europe problem (with their abundance of scalped cost cut digital code stores....) and Sony just killed it worldwide because Sony being "so global" does that sort of thing. There's a million low cost stores selling that stuff mostly run out of Eastern Europe.

But on the other hand it's pretty disgusting even if just in Europe (for now.) ZERO COMPETITION whatsoever. Pure unadulterated price fixing, and all you can do is buy blocks of currency and over-pad your wallet. We've gone back to long distance phone calling cards. Party like it's 1994!

Which reminds me, kiss of death for your discount code stores, @ThanosReXXX !

@YonVonBlett You answered your own question (though I imagnie it goes worldwide at some point.) The EU market has a ton of stores like ShopTo that sell codes largely based on currency conversion rates. Buying inventory at, say, Solvenian prices, then selling them in UK or even the US.

That issue doesn't exist with major retailers in the US who generally sell at MSRP, unless they're running a normal promo sale on it.

As others have said, this is anti-competitive. It’s crazy that a boxed game is generally cheaper than download, but you can understand why - market forces push boxed prices down.

I do wonder whether this will blow up in theirs, Apple, Google and Microsoft’s face one day?

That's a shame. But I tend to take a trip to South Africa when buying eshop games.

I got Shovel Knight Treasure Trove for £24 while on the eshop it was £35. At least third parties are still doing it.

I’ve heard a number of people accounts getting blocked due to buying cheap codes that were stolen. I think Nintendo is moving to stop this and protect the end user.

@Henmii I guess you also can't spell customer with spine, backbone or self control in it.

I assume this doesnt effect top up codes?

Please don’t remove them in the US, Nintendo.

@nimnio Some people don’t have credit/debit cards yet.

Never really got the point of these at all. Dont think ever bought one. Funds for eshop or psn maybe ages ago

@NEStalgia Competition is so 2019. Embrace the future.

I just hope for better sales on the eshop.

First party Nintendo games hold their prices so people like me cannot just throw money on them digitally, therefore, I always buy physical for the resale aspect.

I don’t do that on PS4 though because I can pick up first party and amazing AAA games digitally for under £10 after a year on the market.

I don’t think you can get any first party games for that price on Switch. Even 3 years later.

I’m not saying this is a bad thing, but for a kids gaming company, they are still the most expensive and least pocket money friendly out of the consoles.

@PotatoPancake just buy a eShop card then.

@Octane If by "embracing the future" you mean "stockpile nukes and end the world" I fully agree! Not sure if I translated that right or not though.

Also, how much lead thickness is required to contain, say, 20,000 tons of uranium? Asking for a friend.

Nooo what about cd keys? Got animal crossing for 39.99 from there

Well.. People buying eShop download codes for +/- 20% off normal prices. Yeah, I can't see why Nintendo would want to stop this... O right... That's why.

@playstation_king Same. Was going to get Paper Mario in a couple of weeks too from CDKeys but I guess I won't be able to now.

@tobsesta99 You can always buy eShop credit. Or connect a bank account using PayPal.

@NEStalgia Depends on what kind of uranium. If it's U238, all you need is a few millimetres of lead, regardless of how many tons you have.

@ilh @playstation_king Websites like CDKeys use stolen credit cards to buy games and then resell them for profit.

To be honest if you buy a download code for a game and it’s on sale on the eShop for cheaper, you’re not going to be happy. I doubt a large percentage buys download codes because of this. Plus they take up loads of space.

As long as they don’t stop eshop cards, I don’t see an issue here.

@sanderev not all sites are like that, I think cd keys are one of the few legit ones, they actually send me codes to use on the eshop whilst the dodgy sites just give you an pre made Nintendo account login with the game on

@Seananigans 3rd parties will still sell download codes for their Switch games, just not those published by Nintendo. And most of them are also physical.

It’s all about money. Pokémon Sw/Sh expansion is £27 from eShop. It can be had for less than £20 online. Same for Zelda:BotW expansion. Oh well.

@playstation_king Cdkeys is indeed one of the better sites. However the way they work, they purchase those download codes in countries where they are sold cheaper and resell them to other countries.

This would be a problem if the eshop allowed gifting of games directly

@Zeldawakening That would have the same problem plus a new problem of making yourself a second account in a country where the games are cheaper, then buying the game and "gifting" it to your primary account.

Stopping people getting something cheaper doesn't necessarily mean they'll just start paying more.

@tobsesta99
Don't you guys have Eshop cards? Very sad, if true.

@Hank_Scorpio I've just had my South African citizenship confirmed having spent so much time there these past 3 years.

@Dirty0814 You know what, im going to buy an eShop card now

@sanderev Globalism is wonderful. It lets one leverage scales of economy and currency exchange rates to get the maximum return on investment by exploiting the resources of less developed economic countries.

**Professional use only. Not for consumer use.

@MrGawain I don't know how you're not getting what the problem is here, it's been spelled out quite clearly in the comments. Download codes from places like ShopTo are much CHEAPER than the eShop. As for taking up space, I have no idea what you're talking about. A download code takes no more space than buying from eShop.

The act of selling physical digital codes is weird to me. "Hey everyone! Do you like not having a physical and tradable copy of your game, but hate the frequent sales and being able to purchase the game from the comfort of your own home? Well have we got a solution for you!"

@mesome713 and if I wanted to purchase a digital game for a friend for their birthday how would you do that on the EShop without “cards”? The eShop doesn’t have a gift a friend option like Steam.

@Pak-Man Physical digital codes have to obey the laws of supply & demand, and as such inventory overages can result in reduced costs, driving up demand. Beyond the giftability of a physical gift card, and the fact that not everyone has access to credit cards and the like and must use cash, is the economic aspect of competition and supply pressure.

Moves like this cut out all the above. Prices are fixed by a single provider and are inalterable. One may call it collusion, price fixing, and monopoly power, and would not be incorrect. But since the worlds governments have no bells and are unwilling to confront their market overlords, there is no such thing as antitrust regulation anymore so the internet creates multiple monopolies and that's a-ok. If only Andrew Carnegie and J.D. Rockefeller were still around to see their dreams alive.

@FredBiletnikoff

If you buy a code from Smyths or Game, you are going to pay full price for it. When you get home the price on the eshop could be less due to sales. Because of this, it makes the whole point of physical shops selling games like this pointless. As for space, I’m talking physical retail space. They still need wall space to hang these paper games up in shops.

but I get what you’re saying about ShopTo. I was thinking in terms of physical stores.

i wonder how this will go down with EU law as Nintendo already been hammered once by the EU for their practices. but a bit rubbish

@MrGawain they actually don’t need that much space. Best Buy where I lived have them hanging above the games on pegs that can only hold these cards. This space because it’s so narrow isn’t used for anything else. Of course, I don’t know how they do it where you are, just pointing out that I’ve seen retailers get super creative.

Didn't think much of it when Sony did and don't think it's really a big deal now. Always ways to get digital games cheaper anyway

Well sh*t. Guess there’s no point buying Switch games anymore because their sales are terrible and I just don’t have the money to spend on £60 games.

@NEStalgia I don't think so. I only use those discount sites for Xbox Live Gold renewals, and there's little, if anything that Microsoft can do about that.

@nessisonett I agree that their sales are awful, their first party exclusive titles hardly aver drop below £30 yet ps4 exclusives drop below £12 after a year

@sanderev

It makes me mad that digital prices vary so much between regions. I've seen developers say don't buy from cdkeys because they are getting ripped off. But to me, I think the solution is don't sell the games for cheap in other regions if you don't want people buying them. Just like NBA 2k20 for switch. Recently $2.99 in Europe, lowest price in NA was $19.99. They do that because they think that basketball is more popular in NA and people will pay more for it. There's no other reason.

Consumers could do what cdkeys does, but it would require having multiple accounts in many regions and having multiple payment options that are accepted by local regions. So I have no problem supporting cdkeys and buying cheap games. If a game is being sold $3 in Russia that otherwise would cost me $60 then of course I'm going to buy the cheaper game. If developers don't like it then keep prices consistent across regions and cdkeys will go out of business.

@cleveland124 Or...do what they're doing and cut out all resellers and sell direct only to prohibit customers the ability to price shop.

Wonder if they'd also stop price shopping labor in, say, China, when producing their games and hardware and just pay the local price. Maybe buying labor outside your home market should be illegal. Nintendo can make Switch in Japan or move to China...one or the other.

On the bright side , some retailers sold it for more , also the refund issues if the code was already used

@NEStalgia great comment. Wish your comment was at the top.

@mesome713 I think you are missing the point that most of these codes are digital only and created no physical waste as the codes were either shown directly in your purchases on these websites of sent via email. While the codes that were shipped in physical cases was a bit pointless this is more giving people a lack of opinions on where to purchase the games digitally as many of Nintendo's own games are cheaper by purchasing the codes from reputable online retailers.

@Anguspuss that was over eshop refund policies the psn was also slapped on the hand a bit o believe as well, buttheres no law requiring you supply your product as download codes cards.

@Roibeard64 There was something in about retail pricing as well years ago they got fined for

@playstation_king @sanderev These sites fall into 3 categories

(1) legitimate authorised resellers (e.g. codes from Amazon UK directly, Fanatical which is actually a subsidiary of the publisher Focus Home interactive, Green Man Gaming) - should be zero risk - they buy their codes from Nintendo / the authorised distributor.

(2) grey market resellers that capitalise on regional price differences / bulk buying (I believe CD keys falls into this category) - these are basically legit operations exploiting a loophole - normally low risk but no guarantees - I have received bad keys from CD Keys but their customer service was pretty damn good and rectified things almost immediately.

(3) market places for individuals to resell codes - basically ebay for codes e.g. G2A, Kinguin. These are the ones to be wary of - had several bad PC codes from G2A that took 6 months to turn bad (credit card recharge scams can take time to come to light) - had the games deleted from my steam account. Had that happened on my Nintendo account, they normally ban the whole account and you lose access to your whole game library!

Nintendo look scummy with this move. Very scummy.

@nicols yeah there's also a site called "CJS CD KEYS" which sell you a Nintendo account which has the game you want so you can download it and play on your profile, but after a month that account gets blocked and you can't access the game anymore

I don't really understand why you would buy a code anyway. I've heard of digital codes going on sale but never seen it myself.

@Heavyarms55 one example is 51 Worldwide Games. The digital code was £27 on ShopTo, it's £34 on the eShop.

For most first party titles it was slightly cheaper to buy from ShopTo (for example) than buying the 2 for £84 vouchers direct from Nintendo.

Does anyone know if they released official statement as to why they will end it just in that area?

That means no more discounts on e-shop purchases unless it’s an official Nintendo sale. I expect physical sales to go up as a result of this, given that the competition will remain for physical games.

Wait, people actually bought those?

I'm kidding, it's sad to see them go, but I've never seen anyone, including myself, buying these.

And it's even more useless because of Covid

is this legal ? they could kill some business here

@Rayquaza2510

When Best Buy and Wal-Mart were selling CD’s for $9.99 that the major label distro wanted everyone else to pay $18.50 cost on, you bet your ass we were buying and reselling albums from Brazil and Argentina. 😁

"Going forward, digital fans might want to consider making use of Nintendo's own Game Voucher Programme." — Or they could buy the games for much cheaper physically at a shop and just imagine they don't have a cartridge, the ability to trade them in later or play them on another Switch etc.

@ukaskew I've never even heard of Shopto, is that new?

@Mrnotultra this is not about the cards with codes on them, really. A huge percentage of people seemed to have missed that, this is actually a much bigger deal than the NintendoLife article implies.

Basically, first party digital games are now only available from the eShop. That means that overnight, if you want a digital copy of Animal Crossing it's £49.99 instead of the £39 it was available from suppliers such as ShopTo. 51 Worldwide Games? £8 increase overnight.

Nintendo have killed competition in the digital market with less than a days notice.

@Moistnado Do they also have to pretend they don't have to switch game cards all the time, carry all of their game cards when they go out which if you lose, you've lost the game or pretend that the boxes aren't taking up room in their house?

@ukaskew I'm so glad somebody else understands what's going on, thought I was going crazy. I don't understand why people post without bothering to see if it has been answered in the comments already.

Ugh. This is terrible news. I have made use of these emailed codes on a number of occasions to get a better deal on games.

Only on Nintendo would people line up to either shrug this off as nothing or, even worse, attempt to defend it. Honestly, look at yourselves.

I've felt good ever since selling my switch after a brief, unpleasant experience.

As if paying over the odds for 2011 games running on weak hardware wasn't bad enough, now Nintendo remove one of the few ways consumers could save a bit of cash. Because if you can call their 'sales' reductions just that with a straight face then you probably deny joy-con drift is a thing too.

It's funny watching arch apologists at work!

@mesome713 You realize this applies to non-physical codes as well, right? There are plenty of online suppliers of legal game codes that were cheaper than Nintendo's own offering and now they're no longer an option. This isn't just good for the environment, it's corporate greed.

@Porkfiend I think this is simply because most people have skimmed the article (which wasn't entirely clear, to be fair) and assumed this was really only an issue for the cards you could buy in GAME etc.

"Nintendo blocks third party digital sales in EU" would be a more accurate title for this article. It's a massive change that has happened with about 9 hours notice. It's very anti-competition.

So basically few people bought these in the intended way I.e from a store like GameStop or Amazon where they were always priced the same as physical was (at least everytime I checked). I'm presuming this is how Nintendo envisioned them.

Less eh established Sities bought these up from countries where whatever the reason currencies etc where price was lower and sold them on for less than "on the shelves" of the country of purchase, knowing they would work anywhere in the European Region. So handy for a fiver or so off. Particularly as no transport costs or time (which if was physical might put you off a different countries copy)

Other more Dodgey sites sold stolen or hacked codes.

So Nintendo followed Playstation who did same last year in April and went we arent making these ourselves anymore as we dont like the latter two things happening. So now you either buy it directly off eshop or buy physical copy. I'm sure there was perceived loss in profits here or fear of the scale of it as looks like it's a pure business driven decision.

@FredBiletnikoff Yes. It is quite easy to pretend they dont have cartridges because you can fit about 5 in a matchbox. You can also throw the game cards away when the eshop is discontinued so that you can simulate the sensation of being unable to play the games you paid for in the future. To be fair, I like the eshop, just kidding around. I do think the vouchers do not offer good value for money, unless you've your eye on two specific, new release, first party, 59.99 games or can't visit a shop or access amazon.

Bonjour moi je prend tout en demat sur instant gaming et cd keys ou eneba

@mesome713 These game codes can be got on the cheap though and if you're smart and look around you can end paying less then what the game code is for, i expect Nintendo knew this and so pulled them.

Who do they think they are, Apple or something? Imagine limiting all of your digital download sales to a single eShop!

At least with the Switch there are, you know, physical games. The kind you can share with your friends; the kind you can resell if you want to on eBay – or for pennies on the dollar to opportunistic pawn shops like GameStop. The kind you can lick for some appallingly horrible taste along with coronavirus. The kind that can fall into the cracks between seat cushions and be lost forever. Well played, Nintendo.

@blecch I'd do the same, these retail stores are nothing but a third wheel.

@mesome713 im going to go ahead and assume you hate physical games.

I think Nintendo Life should do an opinion piece on this.

This is clearly anti consumer and Nintendo should be called out for this.

Consumers should be up in arms about this.
It's all about Nintendo taking a bigger cut and eventually having complete control.
Digital games are already massively overpriced compared to physical.
You pay more for digital and Nintendo get more per sale, yet you can't lend to a friend, use a single copy between multiple consoles in a household or sell it on if you don't like or have completed the game. You essentially have fewer rights over your purchase yet pay more.
The future being pushed by publishers is all digital and if/ when that's allowed to happen, Nintendo will have complete control over pricing and therefore the market.
Use your heads and don't let this happen people:)
Very cynical move by Nintendo.

@ukaskew oh, I didn't know that, thanks for bringing this up to me.

Interesting move, I can see it annoying a lot of big name retailers though