Nintendo has officially stopped eShop sales in Russia
Last year, Nintendo put its online store in “maintenance mode” in Russia, which prevented the country’s customers from accessing the online store. Now the company makes it official: Nintendo will stop all sales in Russia.
Nintendo of Europe has announced that as of May 31, 2023, the company will stop all new e-commerce sales in Russia. This means you cannot make new purchases in the store or redeem digital codes. Nintendo says that all credit card information and PayPal information will be deleted for security reasons, and that you cannot create new Nintendo Accounts as long as the country is set to Russia.
The good news is that users with a Russian eShop account will still be able to download previously purchased games and downloadable content “for the foreseeable future.” It is currently unclear how long Nintendo plans to keep the eShop available to these users.
“From May 31, 2023 and for the foreseeable future, Russian customers with a Nintendo Account will be able to re-download previously purchased digital content. It is not possible to make new purchases or use download codes [on the Nintendo eShop] in Russia.
We’ve reached out to Nintendo for further comment and will update this story when we hear back.
Microsoft and Sony stopped all sales from Russia more than a year ago as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Game studios such as Epic, Activision Blizzard and EA made similar moves and halted sales in the country around the same time. Nintendo joining the bandwagon means that there are currently no major console manufacturers allowing their Russian users to purchase new games in the country.
