Nintendo shuts down Switch eshop in Russia with immeditiate effect
Russian players would no longer be able to make purchases and redeem codes on the Switch eshop with the company deciding to shutdown the service.
Nintendo of Europe has announced the shutdown of the Switch eshop in Russia with immediate effect. The company made an official announcement on May 31 that the players residing in Russia won't be able to purchase or redeem codes on the Switch eshop due to the restriction of service in the country. The player's personal information including credit card details, and other transaction details would be permanently deleted from the server for security reasons. However, players with an existing Nintendo account would be able to redownload the content that they have already paid for.
The official statement made by Nintendo of Europe goes as follows:
"As a result of the economic outlook, Nintendo of Europe has decided to wind down operations of its Russian subsidiary. As part of our efforts to honor preceding commitments to our customers in the Russian market, the Russian version of the Nintendo eShop will be set to offer limited service.
As of May 31, 2023, and for the foreseeable future, Russian customers with an existing Nintendo Account will be able to redownload digital content that they have previously purchased. It will not be possible to make any new purchases or use download codes within [the] Nintendo eShop in Russia."
It is important to note that the eshop was kept in maintenance mode for the past three months as the company stopped accepting Russian currency for the purchase. The decisions have been made following the economic outlook due to which Russian eshop service would be kept limited in the country. As per the statement, Nintendo doesn't indicate any further plans to resume the switch eshop service anytime soon in the country.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has affected the gaming market in the country. And the most affected by it is the Russian gaming community which stands in the middle of nowhere. Apart from Nintendo, several big players in the gaming industry including Activision Blizzard, Epic Games, Take-Two, Sony, Microsoft, and EA have shut down their operations following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The shutdown of the Nintendo Switch eshop in Russia is expected to affect the players in the long run. The players have no option left but to accept their fate until the situation changes drastically in the future.