Mns
Image: Nintendo

Earlier in the month, we reported on several EU countries losing access to My Nintendo as the site went down for maintenance for "a few weeks". Now, it seems that the UK My Nintendo site has followed suit, although only for three days.

Xenoblade fans may once again be suspicious of the timing — the long-awaited Xenoblade Chronicles 3 releases this Friday, 29th July, so the timing seems rather serendipitous. Or unfortunate, depending on whether or not you've already nabbed a pre-order copy of the new game...

The scheduled maintenance on the UK My Nintendo Store will end on the 27th July; it's not yet clear what constitutes "a few weeks" for the EU sites, but it is still not possible to make an order or visit the My Nintendo store. This includes pre-ordering Xenoblade Chronicles 3, although you can still do this through the Nintendo eShop on your Switch, as long as you only want a digital version of the game.

Xenoblade Special Edition
The Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Special Edition was responsible for website outages in June — Image: Nintendo

As we theorised for the EU outage, the maintenance could well be designed to bolster the site in preparation for massive numbers of visitors looking to grab the Special Edition of the game. The Special Edition, which includes a 250-page hardcover art book and a steel case, was responsible for unplanned outages on the US My Nintendo Store back in June.

If you want to know how to grab a copy of the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Special Edition, head to our pre-order guide (but be aware that the site outages will affect where you can buy it from).

Have these outages affected you? Do you have a potential explanation for why we're seeing the sites go down so close to a massive game release? Tell us in the comments!