Nintendo is offering to reimburse players who don't wish to transfer their Wii U and/or 3DS eShop credit to Switch, following their closure at the end of March. This has only been announced for Japan so far.
OatmealDome shared and translated the announcement from Nintendo's official Japanese Twitter account, and from 6th April 2023 to March 2025, those in Japan can contact Nintendo to get money back on their untransferred eShop credit, if they wish to do so. Obviously, if users have already amalgamated their balances from Wii U and 3DS to Switch, then the service is unavailable.
Those who do wish to get some money back, though, can do so in two ways — either directly to their bank account or by cash at a Lawson convenience store.
To apply for a refund, you need to fill out the Application Form on the official Nintendo website. Details on how to fill this out, and what you'll need, are listed on the page.
Again, this service is only available for those in Japan, and it doesn't look like there are any plans to offer this on this side of the world. But we'll keep an eye out just in case.
Would you like to see this offered over in the west? Have you transferred your credit over? Let us know.
[source nintendo.co.jp, via twitter.com, twitter.com]
Comments 11
Unless you didn't plan ahead with your purchasing, you shouldn't have more than a few pounds left on there anyway. I just used my remainder on Switch like most people
Just wondering, but will you still be able to merge the funds from your 3ds/Wii u with your Switch eshop account even after the shop closure?
Considering how long ago the option to add funds on wii u and 3ds natively has been gone in Europe I can't see a need for this. Last 3 years any purchases I made on them were viia topping up first other switch
@Breeze23 Yes, here's Nintendo's description:
"After March 27, 2023, users who link their Nintendo Network ID wallet (used with Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems) with their Nintendo Account wallet (used with the Nintendo Switch family of systems) can use the shared balance to purchase content on the Nintendo Switch family of systems."
This will remain exclusive to Japan - it's Nintendo's obligation under a Japanese law that companies have to offer refunds for unused virtual currency. Even the DSi Shop and Wii Shop had similar refund offers in Japan, but nowhere else.
@Breeze23 You have until March 2024 to merge funds, after that any funds on the 3DS/Wii U will be completely useless. (source in Japanese)
The process to do this sounds more unnecessarily complicated than it needs to be. Laws surrounding digital licenses for content (physical, and/or digital) need to be more consumer friendly. The more consumer friendly digital becomes to purchase, legally backup/share/sell license/transfer license/etc., the more willing people will shift to physical. Of course, there are, and will always be people who prefer physical. I'm just saying that some of the deterrents to digital are the legalities.
They really need a refund solution for the eShop right now and going forward. For the high amount of garbage on the eShop right now, it's criminal to not had one.
Americans would just take advantage of it somehow. We tend to ruin things like that.
That white 3ds is really sexy. Is it too late to get one?
What about the digital Virtual Console games I bought on the first Wii? Easily paid over $100 US for such and essentially now paying again with Switch Online / Expansion Pak.
(I never had Wii U, nor any DS so don’t know if would have carried over and furthermore still recognized.)
@bluesun @Olliemar28 Thanks 😃
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