Back in April, there was some bad news for the Nintendo eShop in Russia: it will no longer be able to support new purchases starting on 31 May.
Today, Nintendo confirmed the previous plans with a new email to publishers regarding the planned closedown of the Nintendo eShop in Russia. Unlike the Wii U and 3DS eShops shutdown earlier this year, Russian customers will also be disallowed from redeeming download codes. Still, customers who have already purchased titles from the marketplace will be able to re-download without issue. Nintendo previously halted physical shipments to Russia in March “due to considerable volatility surrounding the logistics of shipping and distributing physical goods.”
With this Nintendo eShop closure, they follow other brands like Microsoft who have also stopped sales in the region due to the ongoing war crisis after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Other companies have also gotten involved with financial aid to Ukraine, with Epic Games running a Fortnite fundraiser back in April 2022 that saw $144 million raised to aid the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
The statement from Nintendo reads, “As a result of the economic outlook, Nintendo of Europe has decided to wind down operations of its Russian subsidiary,” with “As part of our efforts to honour preceding commitments to our customers in the Russian market, the Russian version of Nintendo eShop will be set to offer limited service” GameDeveloper reports.
While the statement includes reassurance that Russian customers can still download games they have already purchased, the Nintendo eShop will also delete all payment methods saved to their marketplace, including credit card and PayPal information.
As of this post, Russia has not made any public announcement regarding Nintendo’s decision, but this marketplace scenario could continue in the unforeseen future. Fans can head over to the Nintendo of Europe Twitter for information as it lands.
