Last year, Nintendo put its eShop into “maintenance mode” in Russia, preventing customers from accessing the country’s eShop. Now, the company is making it official: Nintendo is stopping all sales in Russia.
Nintendo of Europe has announced that starting May 31, 2023, the company will be discontinuing all new eShop sales in Russia. This means that you will not be able to make any new purchases from the store or redeem digital codes. Nintendo says that all credit card information and PayPal details will be deleted for security reasons and that you won’t be able to create new Nintendo accounts as long as Russia is set as the country.
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 for these users.
Starting May 31, 2023, and for the foreseeable future, Russian customers with an existing Nintendo Account will be able to re-download digital content they previously purchased. It will not be possible to make any new purchases or use download codes within [the] Nintendo eShop in Russia”.
We’ve reached out to Nintendo for additional comment and will update this story when we hear back.
Microsoft and Sony stopped all sales from Russia over a year ago as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Game studios like Epic, Activision Blizzard, and EA made similar moves and halted sales in the country around the same time. Having Nintendo join the mix means that there are no major console makers currently allowing their Russian users to buy new games in the country.
