Nintendo Is Discontinuing Gold Points, One Of The Switch’s Best Incentives – Nintendo Life
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GuestGuestLogin | Sign UpNintendo LifeGuestLogin or Sign UpNoooo, don’t do it!Nintendo has announced that it is discontinuing the My Nintendo Gold Points program, stating that it will no longer be possible to earn points from 24th March 2025 (or 25th March depending on your region). Platinum points, however, will remain unchanged.Gold points were rewarded through the purchase of both digital and physical Switch games, allowing you to apply them to future digital purchases for a reasonable discount. Even at just 5% of the purchase price (with the odd additional promotion here and there), it was frankly one of the best incentives on the system and a great way to save a bit of extra cash for those upcoming big first-party releases.Nintendo has stated that there are a couple of scenarios in which you will still be able to earn points after the cut-off date. The first is if you happen to pre-order a digital game prior to 24th March. Even if the payment is made after this date, you will still earn the relevant points.The second is if you purchase an eligible physical Switch game after the cut-off date, so long as the purchase is made within the first 12 months of the game’s initial release (and that release is before 24th March, of course).Nintendo has also clarified that Gold Points will be redeemable for a maximum of 12 months after you have earned them, even if this extends well beyond 24th March. It’s not currently known, however, if this will be applicable to purchases made on the upcoming Switch 2.Speaking of which, we’re somewhat confident that Nintendo will likely replace the Gold Points program with something similar when the Switch 2 has found its footing. The company will no doubt want that extra 5% during the initial rush for the new console, but we wouldn’t be surprised if a new scheme is detailed at some point in 2025 or 2026.For now, however, this kinda sucks. The Gold Points program was genuinely great, and we used it frequently to get a cheeky little discount on our digital purchases. Now we’re sad.No Switch Online membership is requiredPoints takenWhat do you make of this latest announcement from Nintendo? Do you often make use of the Gold Points program? Let us know.[source en-americas-support.nintendo.com]About Ollie ReynoldsNintendo Life’s resident horror fanatic, when he’s not knee-deep in Resident Evil and Silent Hill lore, Ollie likes to dive into a good horror book while nursing a lovely cup of tea. He also enjoys long walks and listens to everything from TOOL to Chuck Berry.Comments 150Well, now I can’t game the system anymore by purchasing eslop. :VI always saw it as a kind of compensation for the time spent in the horrible eShop.Aw no! I genuinely got some great games at a low price due to this scheme, here’s hoping a similar alternative will make it’s way to Switch 2 🤞🏻Just WHY?! The gold points were such a great idea!@TomSupreme seriously though, how is it even possible to make scrolling the flat content so slow in a device from 2017? What is it doing behind the scenes, computing the point of life?I don’t know why anyone would expect Nintendo do to bring them back later, or something similar, let alone be confident in that happening — that’s just not how these things work. The gold points were an incentive to get people to buy games digitally, now that physically media is very clearly o. It’s last legs, that incentive is no longer necessary.But why? Maybe because it was good for us customers? This is the one good thing about the eshop and they’re taking it away. UnbelievableDefinitely sucks. Not that I used them that much, but every time I reached 699 or more, I got an Arcade Archives game for free.Nintendo is devaluating its incentives more and more. No more Club Nintendo really good items, no more discounts on Wii U and 3DS games… The gold points is what we had left. Bad move imho.@Kestrel If anything, this just makes physical purchases more attractive. They can already be much cheaper, now even more so!Genuinely devastating news. I got some of my favourite games on the Switch for free thanks to the gold points. Downwell, Steamworld Heist, Portal. This is seriously a baffling move from NintendoYeah I’m pretty sure they will introduce another “loyalty” program. If they don’t I’m honestly quite disappointed. It’s not a huge deal but I love spending that sweet gold.WHAT?! WHY?! That is total garbage!I guess it’s not too surprising, though …when every other loyalty program, service or subscription is also sneakily getting worse while steadily getting more and more expensive. Capitalism FTW.@bobbyjack-dot-me plus the fact you can trade them in at places once done with them/if you dont like the game. I’ve been stuck with some duff eshop purchases I didnt like despite good reviewsI’ve gotten so many great bite-sized deals over the past number of years thanks to Gold Points, be it small DLC or even cheap full games so this saddens me immensely. I’m very curious as to why they’re culling it now of all times and not the numerous years its been in effect for Switch 1 but regardless, its a tragic sight to see indeed 💔It’s genuinely disheartening that modern Nintendo is so greedy even 5% “cash” back is considered too generous.That would have been a fun article to read on April 1st … but today … it’s just a very disappointing thing to read … not that it was extraordinary, it never delivered huge amounts of cash, but it always felt so special to get some gold points to use small discounts on more games. 😢 Just got 23 points yesterday, and even though you’d give me 23 cents I’d wonder what’s wrong with you, these 23 gold points just made me happy … it’s silly but still, those little things in life …Didn’t they just make that “Play On” initiative? Renewing an NSO subscription would grant you a return in gold points. Weird Timing. I can say i yearly spent my gold points on indie software, but never ever used the vouchers for example.Going to be honest, I think the My Nintendo rewards are a bit better than what we got at Club Nintendo. There was so many times when there’d be a decent item available and by the time I had enough points, it would be out of stock or they’d be all gone before you had a chance to claim them.That said, I did like the deals where you could exchange points for discounts on select titles. Seeing Nintendo carrying that over and making sure you got rewarded for digital games and third party titles was pretty neat. I accumulated quite a lot of coins that way. It was a pretty good loyalty scheme.It also helped take the edge off some of the purchases I made where I felt the game was just OK or I was concerned about getting buyers remorse. I hope we get a similar perks when the Switch 2 comes.I think Nintendo should pair this announcement with a general price increase of their games, that would really hit the spot.I admit I borrowed countless games from our local library just to redeem the goldpoints. Must have gotten over 100€ this way.@Chapapa I absolutely did not do that when my library stocked DS and 3DS games. Nope. And I definitely didn’t go through the shelf looking in each box to find the Club Nintendo codes. Never. 👀You can sort of understand it. It’s basically a discount on a new game in a time game development is more expensive, not to mention the threat of those tariffs for US sales. If it isn’t financially viable then fairs fair.The decision not to communicate the reason for the termination, and the timing of the closure date, is potentially interesting.The Nintendo Switch 2 Direct airs around 1 week after the discontinuation of Gold Points.Perhaps a replacement rewards scheme is in the works?Probably paving the way for a new rewards scheme with the Switch 2 I suspect.In any case, it still massively sucks. I love earning and spending gold points on the eshop, it’s like giving yourself that personal sneaky discount.This is not limited to North America like I thought it could be at first considering that I’ve found it also in Japanese (https://support.nintendo.com/jp/information/2025/0218.html) so more likely than not it’s just a matter of time before it gets announced also elsewhere and based on the timing I’d be surprised if it weren’t related to Switch 2 – not so sure it will be replaced by a similar program even though I surely hope so but regardless, really unfortunate to hear!These kinds of cutbacks are inevitable, considering the weak yen, as well as general inflation levels. Compared to a potential increase in game prices, it’s the lesser of two evils.This is like when they first ditched the WiiU discounts and then later 3DS.
If there’s going to be something else, it will be even more pathetic.@Folkloner I agree, there’s likely to be a replacement in the works. I won’t be surprised if in the coming weeks we hear about a Platinum Coins rebrand as well — currently we can use them for MyNintendo rewards as well as Switch icon pieces — but what’s the point of platinum if there’s not gold?That is a shame. Hoping they will have some other thing in mind to replace it (not getting my hopes up though 😞)Damn, that’s a real shame.I’m hoping they at least keep vouchers for a while longer…I played Switch games in physical by 99% so I don’t think I will miss the opportunity for Gold point redeem as it will encourage people to buy digital games often.
Now given by situation which you are no longer able to redeem the Gold point from purchasing physical games, for me it will build the mentality to not depended on digital games so I can focus on owning the physical games as I (almost) never touch my digital game purchase once I bought them.I wonder if it isn’t a bad decision in the long run. Almost all of us say we’ve bought games we wouldn’t have because of them, me included!But the there are way too many people saving them up. Which basically means Nintendo is buying that game for you I guess.And indeed, now that everyone has fallen for the digital only age. It’s time to reap the benefits! No more sales, no more second hand stores, hell no more playing your game at a friends house in cases like Pokemon and Animal Crossing!I really hate late stage capitalism! 🥹😂Nintendo’s really good at making us want digital games! I actually do often opt for digital games but now I don’t know what I’ll do. Bad move from Nintendo.Another classic Nintendo move.Another crappy Nintendo move.@Kestrel You can redeem gold points on physical purchases too.This is highly disappointing as well as confusing on its own, but I’m PRETTY sure they have another system in the works, and I’m not much of an optimist. Ever since I went digital, gold points have been a nice way to buy small eShop games I might not have bought otherwise, or even just shave a few dollars off a normal-sized game. I wouldn’t worry about no replacement just yet.And now that vouchers won’t work on Switch 2, I’m thinking this even more so.Absolutely fine with this, poor system for collecting rewards that never amounted to much anyway. Fingers crosed this will be a change to something different, hopefully more along the lines of exclusive gifts rather than 68p off your purchase.Huh. Well that’s… stupid. It’s thanks to these things that I was able to shave off a few bucks when getting games. Typical Nintendo move.Hmm, it was a good reason to buy digital games to be honest. The extra gold coins really brought the prices much closer to physical.Still, I guess it is no surprise to see it going eventually, like all good things.Those money grubbing landlubbers! I’d they’re gonna just do a replacement on the next system, at least wait until we approach its release date. This is dumb.Hopefully, they might offer new incentives, like discounts on repeat subscriptions and maybe even replace Gold Points with straight-forward credit…. it’s either that or, they may offer subscription tiers that offer various perks, or percentage discounts off first party eShop games.
I’m trying to be optimistic, but this is Nintendo after all, gawd bless them.Gold points were just a worse version of Club Nintendo points/Nintendo Network Premium (for those that remember) so I’m not too upset about this. Nintendo will definitely replace this with a new reward scheme, so I’ll have to wait and see before judging that.couple days ago nintendo, sony and microsoft jointly warned about the danger of tarifs and nintendo stated that they have undertaken initiatives to minimize the impact of such tarifs. I wonder if there is a connection@Kestrel not really considering you received them from digital games as well and physical isn’t in its last legs. It is very much alive.Surprised the discontinue date isn’t March 31st.This sucks, though, so I hope they are actually working on a replacement system and not just getting more stingy ahead of the new console launch. Wii U to Switch was quite a stark contrast in terms of how expensive Nintendo priced their accessories. That’s not a trend I want to see continue.Raise prices and tighten the purse strings. Inflation gaming with Nintendo..So basically they just increased all digital prices by 5%. Lovely.Why?? That was an excellent program, I use it frequently!@chardir they just increased all their digital game prices by 5.26% actually! (100/95)Microsoft have the best reward system.
You get paid for playing games.In total i earned around 300-400$ just by playing Xbox games on console and PC.Anyways. Wii U had the best Nintendo reward program, and then it were downgraded many years ago.As if Club Nintendo wasn’t better then My Nintendo and gold coins even if 1% physical, 5% digital they go nope we want to be even more greedy and remove it. Nintendo can’t make up their mind.I get the rewards bwere terrible or cutting codes even more so less production of them or whatever but even still they should have thought about that. Game carts cost more then the paper/codes anyway. What little is it saving? The bad rewards on the service no one used but eshop wise did because it was as more beneficial.Even users like me that joined the eshop late bought a ton of games besides my physical limited for a time to go ok what I can’t get physical time to start digital now. Did same with Wii U, 3DS, Vita and PS4.I have not used Microsoft rewards or Sony’s one either. But I thought Nintendo did it ok….. I don’t care for loyalty programs anyway.My Nintendo was just cut outs and stuff no one needed, even Tearaway on Vita/PS4 it was a simple thing, an if you want to replicate what’s in the game, not image saves or crafts no one really cared about, besides platinum coins for visiting the site.Club Nintendo at least allowed you to get a lot of cool stuff but selling games for Wii U/3DS deemed too generous but was cool, Game and Watch, ok niche physical things. Codes varied of inserts or reverse box art. Niche things but fair. A lot questionable but I see why they changed it too as they were too fair to fans and just throwing stuff at them later and I’m like that’s cool but sounds too generous then it was like oh they are giving up/rebranding gotcha.Each era is different and each leader, each version of the service, and what games didn’t happen, what didn’t release somewhere for region releases, what got cut, of content or cancelled games, what stayed in of content, what is fair for third parties, what gets cracked down on.Is it shareholders or are Furukawa/Bowser just too greedy/bored or something.I actually like gold points it’s sets them apart from Sony/Microsoft (regular stores I don’t know about loyalty programs I don’t use any of them) yet nope. Nintendo can’t make up their mind.Another win for the shareholders.I really hope they have something new to replace it. Otherwise this is a head scratcherIt’s a good incentive to have, but will be gone soon. Thanks for the heads up.@liljmoore That is what I was coming on to say, that this is likely in anticipation of something new being launched with Switch 2.I buy mainly physical. Spend £500 pounds on games and get £5 pounds back to spend on the eshop. This is Nintendo lolSony and Microsoft decided to rise the standard price from 60 $ to 70 $ to compensate the inflation and exploded development costs. Assuming that Nintendo don’t want to follow this price increase (or only partially), killing the 5 % discount seems to me to be the better option.well bucket. There goes any reason i ever had to visit the eShopPresumably it’s a way to incentivise people to buy Switch 2 games instead and there will be a similar scheme on Switch 2 only.They’ll probably relaunch the program as a Nintendo Switch Online perk or something.Go Nintendo is reporting vouchers won’t work for Switch 2 games either. 😒Wow, you’d think with Switch 2 they’d continue something like this. Don’t like it at all.Yeah, this blows big time. I always tried to use my GP on stuff I could get down to so much and a penny. My bank has a thing where it rounds any card payment up to the nearest pound, and sends the difference to my savings account.Might sound daft, but bit by bit over the past few years, Save The Change has gotten another £1,000 in there – which is going to be ridiculously handy for the Head-Spinner Trip.I believe it was 5% for digital and 1% for physical. So was handy thar once in a while you’d have 10-15 there.(mostly go physical for switch).Hoping switch 2 gets its own reward system.“Speaking of which, we’re somewhat confident that Nintendo will likely replace the Gold Points program with something similar when the Switch 2 has found its footing.”Why would you have any confidence? I don’t find your sourcing or argumentation convincing. This could just be a way to offset US trade wars.Boo hiss! I earned a few free eShop games thanks to gold points, but had to spend hundreds of dollars to do so (I buy physical almost always). They’ll yank this trifling incentive away now?? You’d think they’d wait till the Switch 2 was out and established, or just keep the system in place along with the sad and mostly useless platinum points.Margins must be pretty tight, I guess.😤Or will platinum points be the new gold?? How nice that would be!!Dumb. DUMB. Being able to get games in deep discount or heck, even for ZERO POUNDS in some cases, was a great incentive for me to buy a lot of other games. Sure, I didn’t use it to its greatest potential, but it was nice getting some games I wasn’t planning on playing for free with leftover points I had. Oh well. Nothing nice lasts forever.Interestingly I received a survey about the My Nintendo Store from Nintendo today. Not filled it out yet so not sure what’s in it.Very poor decision considering that Nintendo’s biggest discounts are rare and 33% off at best, including ports from other generations. They delivered much better promos in the beginning of this generation with Wii U’s Virtual Console and also with Nintendo Network and Club Nintendo. They also had physical editions that were 50% off with Nintendo Classics and Player’s Choice. Now, they won’t give you 5% credit on digital sales, while Xbox gives you a bit of credit each day for playing games (you can easily get £€$10 per month), on top of giving you credit back on digital purchases. It sounds like a joke, but all that’s left is the PNG rewards. Nintendo has become way too greedy since Switch.Bad move. There have been times when I was split between the eshop or Steam version of a game during a sale on both platforms. “Well, I can get some gold out of it” was often the decision maker.I am hoping, that Nintendo will replace this with a better loyalty program, too.I get the feeling Nintendo is becoming increasingly allergic to discounts. They used to give games away for free to Club Nintendo members, now they can’t be bothered to let people save a bit of pocket change with their purchases…Disappointing.Surprising too as both Xbox and PlayStation still have equivalent reward systems for purchasing digital products from their stores.Gold points have incentivised me to buy games that I otherwise wouldn’t have on an few occasions.Greed is good!That’s messed up, what a shame…It’d be great if they would come up with something like the Microsoft Rewards program, but it doesn’t seem quite likely. I used MS rewards to buy Switch gift cards and got some great games for free, but unfortunately the store I used to buy them from changed some of their policies and now I can’t do it anymore. Now with gold points going down too, there is not much incentive for me to buy Switch games anymore except huge discounts, which are quite rare. Sad day…This was largely used to knock a bit off the NSO subscription for me, as I rarely buy digital stuff outside of dlc for physical games. Still a good way to save a few quid though.This is a shame. I was a big user and the small discount often tipped me into grabbing a game on sale if I could get a few quid off. It felt like a reward for investing in the eco system.I forgot they existed lol I don’t use the eShop.Seems a bit of a PR own goal for very little gain.They did the same with the Wii U Premium program, so there might be a replacement to it when the Switch 2 launches.The Old Nintendo slowly dying before our eyes.Miss the days of Nintendo Club (Europe)I’m guessing they’ll roll out something new for the Switch 2. We had club Nintendo points for a while which were replaced with the gold coin system, so I’m sure another new thing is around the corner to help with getting rewarded for purchases.@BongoBongo 5.26% if we’re being pedantic As long as they revamp the eshop all is forgiven…But seriously, this sucks@chardir indeed it was a typo!The descent continuesTaking away from the consumer and increasing their own profit margins. The consumer loses out once again.Really disappointed, but not surprised as every company is doing the same and putting up prices while giving customers less.Gonna miss them, but I’m sure some new scheme will be implemented for Switch 2. I got some great deals from this myself. “Free” 5 euro games and whatnot that I would never have purchased otherwise.@Toastmaster How exactly does Microsofts reward system work? Getting paid for playing games sounds interesting.Well, looks like I’m going to have to think carefully about what I purchase from the eshop from now on. I imagine others will be in the same boat. Surely less eshop sales will hit Nintendo’s profit margin harder than giving money back. Tbf though, I only buy a digital game if it’s on a decent sale. That being said, I do have over a hundred in the backlog ‘cos I’m a sucka for it. With my last gold points balance, I was able to buy Degrees of Separation for a measley 0.34 pence.I and call them slowtendo at times but they been very quick with the gold coins scrapping and game vouchers not for switch 2. The good ole corporate wheels turn quick in that direction 🤣 Fastendo now.Bring back Nintendo selects, and I can call it even.Welp, guess my £8 of points is going towards Pokken Tournament’s DLC after all.Absolutely nothing good about today’s news. I’m hoping there is going to be a new discount program for the new console that will be revealed down the road. Sadly, I think everything digital will be at a premium for its first year or two.I don’t think I’ve ever been concerned with gold points since they stopped doing physical rewards. (Which they have since kinda brought back.) Basically just a 5% discount but done in a way that encourages you to buy more, which was fine I guess? Can’t say I’ll miss it that much.I mean..yea it kinda sucks. But if anything, this is super exciting. It means we’re on the verge of something new and it’s starting to feel real now. Bring on April 2.@Jhena
PC/Xbox users got paid by playing games for 6 years or so now, maybe even longer as i didn’t discover it until 6 years ago.You get points for running a Console game for 15 minutes daily.
You get points for running a PC game for 15 minutes daily.
You get points for 5 day streaks, and also 7 day streak.
Points for opening Xbox phone app daily, and also have streak bonus.
Play 4 different games within 30 days, 15 minutes each.
Play 8 different games within 30 days, 15 minutes each.
If you keep the weekly streaks, you also get more weekly bonus points.
You also get some points on phone app daily for completing first level in a puzzle game. Done in 30-60 seconds.
All tasks are easy.These points can be converted to real money whenever you want.
You can get Xbox or PC games for free.
Even Xbox controller, Xbox consoles and whatever if you stacked a lot of points.
You can also spend points, and pay the rest with own money.Of all the things that need to be changed with the eShop and buying of switch games…. This isn’t one of them.Honestly unless they actually properly stop the flow of absolute dire scam titles to the eShop, the switch 2 as a whole is less enticing over it.Yeah, that sucks. I used those gold points often. 😕@Buizel You jinxed it…@Toastmaster Honestly, this sounds awesome. Thanks for telling me! I am surprised, that I have not heard about it sooner.I used these all the time on Indie sales, among other things. I can’t believe they’re getting rid of them.But hey, mabey MK8 deluxe will be on sale for 30% off. Nintendo truly does care about us. Its totally not to satisfy stockholders on the short termHopefully whatever is replacing the Gold Coins is a lot better. I like the Gold Coins too but way too many physical games refuse to give them, games from limited production, games from imports, and games from publishers that sell those imports. As for points outside the Gold Coins, yeah all my rewards points from tons of Reward Cards I own sometime came in handy. I was able to use $40 worth of reward points to get Super Mario Bros. Wonder and $150 to buy the Switch OLED.@Qwiff damn, the coping is strong with youI have like 800 gold coins and forget I have them. Just never noticed to use them as I always buy physical gamesThere’s gotta be something coming to replace this, unless Nintendo positioned the vouchers to be the discount model. If nothing replaces this then that’ll really hurt some smaller devs or any 3rd party digital purchases since most folks probably wouldn’t consider pulling the trigger on a game unless there was an additional discount on top of a sale price. The feel of getting a game for pennies or even free is too great. I know I got a lot of use out of the gold coins for Arcade Archives games. Fun fact, my WiiU/3DS eShop FOMO shopping spree netted me a ton of gold coins in the process. I literally banked $100 in gold coins! Had to spend it all or else they’d expire, of course.What a disappointment. I figured the Gold Points were implemented as an incentive to purchase digitally, and now that most people opt for digital nowadays, they’re gutting the system and giving us no more bonus for choosing digital.I am expecting a legitimate replacement for switch 2Nooooooo I just used these a few months ago to get Suika game for free. How will I do that ever again?Not exactly news I wanted to wake up to. I miss Club Nintendo and how “free” games and discounts were handled in the 3DS/Wii U days.Since I buy mostly physical, I didn’t get the most use out of this program. It IS nice to get the occasional eshop discount or free game if it’s already on sale. I picked up SteamWorld Dig 2 for nothing during the winter sales. I REALLY hope some sort of replacement is in the works, but said hope isn’t high.That’s a shame!I’m going to have to buy a load games now before the cut off point 😁@TomSupreme you get them for physical copies to though…Nintendo just made Playstation Stars look good 😅@Kestrel Nintendo has had similar systems in place since the GBA/Gamecube era, even now I know people that exclusively buy physical games, redeem the gold points and use those to claim 100% free digital games.That sucks but I suppose you can’t get free games forever. All the companies have been killing their rewards programs. And I would rather Nintendo increase their profit margins like this rather than price hikes, layoffs or game cancellations.All things must come to an end. Unfortunate but it is what it is. Maybe there will be something like this for Switch 2.This is pretty lame. Hopefully they announce a successor program for Switch 2. Now they mentioned our points expire after 12 months…is there any way to see an expiry date or do we get a notification?So what’s the point of My Nintendo now? This was perfect for spending at least a little less money.On top of having hilariously bad online infrastructure they’re penny pinching even more.Never forget: big corpos are not your friend.Bye bye Club Nintendo, Bye bye Gold Coins, whats next? Bye Bye Seal of ah wait they already have with all the crap thats on the eShop <-- joke (yes, i know Seal of Quaility is only for physicals)One of Nintendo's dumbest moves in a long while. Unbelievable... 🤦♂️@Bunkerneath For the last GD time, the seal of "quality" only signified an official product, not the quality of the actual software itself (that being also highly subjective).I'd always use my points on cheaper DLC or the occasional title I didn't want to pay for with cash. Made picking up cosmetic extras a much easier choice. I think I let a lot of them expire though 😔@EVIL-C DUDE it's a joke, there you go edited my comment Ouch. Feels like they're hurting on sales after making us wait way too long for new hardware, if profit margins are to be maintained gold coins gotta go. I've never debated buying a new Nintendo console, it's always a given, but...This is genuinely a terrible move. Has arrogant Nintendo returned?Sales tax in Ontario is 13%.....🤕😂 5% back was nice, I enjoyed buying digital but I guess I'll have to get back into owing physical...you do it to yourself,and that's what really hurts you do it to yourself you doooo....Nintendo's greediness has no limits. 😡@Bunkerneath It is very hard to tell sometimes. It's stunning how often I read that seal of quality comment and the person is being 100% unironic. My apologies....Another wtf decision from Nintendo...Jesus MDF Christ, why o' why??@dmcc0 There haven't been anything for many years for physical stuff for gold points. (In North America that is.)Unfortunate news. If they do make another reward system, will it be worse or will it be better is the question.A sad removal of a great feature to save a few bucks.Dang. Time to plug in all my physical copies and see if I have any unclaimed gold sitting around.Fine by me. Didn't even know about gold coins in the e-shopThis is so frustrating.Awww, man! That stinks.Am I the only one who doesn't care? A few bucks off a $100 purchase is pathetic anyway. I buy games because I want to play them, not to earn a few measly cents in the form of gold points. I'd much rather be able to earn some cool physical items. Promo Pokemon cards would be sweet.If you shop around for a physical copy you can pretty much get it cheaper than in the eShop.The gold points were small compensation that made it attractive to buy a game via the eShop 1 minute past midnight on launch day. As opposed to waiting until shops opened to get it cheaper.With Gold points gone there is no incentive to buy through the eShop unless there isn't a physical copy close by.I hardly even used those Gold Points because I had too little for an actual discount anyway. It's still sad Nintendo is taking it away before the Switch 2 Direct, maybe we may get something new for the Switch 2?I hardly used the Points myself but still, sad.😞 I feel bad for everyone who uses this a lot.I guess whatever is replacing this will be valid for Switch 1 as well. Looking forward to April 2.Honestly, this makes me really sad. I truly enjoyed using gold points on some of my purchases and I will really miss them. Hopefully Nintendo will be replacing it with something else.Oh well! Just did a £200 eshop splurge and got a load of third party games that were on my ever growing wish list.I agree with Nintendo Life's video that there will be a new scheme implemented to replace the gold coins to bring it in line with the (Possibly) more expensive Switch 2 first party games.I can't wait to see what games people play on the Switch 2 in April at the hands on events 😍Dude WHY? I use those all the time!
...it sucks that that's probably the reason why.@NolandC You're right, but that will discontinue also and not every game gets a physical release. Show CommentsLeave A CommentHold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Nintendo Is Discontinuing Gold Points, One Of The Switch's Best IncentivesNoooo, don't do it!Toby Fox Shares Development Update On Deltarune Chapter 3 And 4"Still console testing"Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Adds Characters From "SEGA Universes"Update: IGN has an exclusive preview upFunko Fusion Is Deemed A "Complete Commercial And Critical Failure"Around 20 unconfirmed layoffs reportedSwitch 2 Units Are Reportedly Selling For $40,000 On The Chinese Black MarketOr $50 trade-in at GameStop 12News Mario & Luigi: Brothership Version 1.0.1 Now Available, Here Are The Full Patch Notes 13News Pokémon GO Developer Niantic Reportedly In Talks To "Sell Games Unit" 12News New Tactical RPG From Danganronpa & Zero Escape Creators Scores A Demo 26Gallery Here's Another Look At Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition For Switch 23Rumour A New Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Remaster Might Be On The WayNews Nintendo Is Discontinuing Gold Points, One Of The Switch's Best IncentivesNews Toby Fox Shares Development Update On Deltarune Chapter 3 And 4News Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Adds Characters From "SEGA Universes"News Hollow Knight: Silksong Briefly Vanishes From US Switch eShop, But It's ...News Funko Fusion Is Deemed A "Complete Commercial And Critical Failure&...Guide Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds: Full Character Roster - Every Racer Confirmed...News DC x Sonic The Hedgehog First Issue Cover Art Officially RevealedNews Switch 2 Units Are Reportedly Selling For $40,000 On The Chinese Black M...News Nintendo Has Renewed Some TrademarksNews Metroid Prime First 4 Figures 'Samus Phazon Suit' Sneak Peek, Pre-Orders...Popular Right NowShow More Join 1,508,377 people following Nintendo Life:© 2025 Hookshot Media, partner of IGN Entertainment | Hosted by 44 Bytes | AdChoices | Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Source: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2025/02/nintendo-is-discontinuing-gold-points-one-of-the-switchs-best-incentives