Nintendo has now officially stopped all sales in Russia for the eShop, preventing users in the country from making any new purchases of digital goods and services.
It was already not possible for users in Russia to make eShop purchases. As Nintendo paused sales in 2022 by putting the eShop into maintenance mode. At the time though, Nintendo didn’t confirm whether or not things would stay this way. Now the company is making things official by halting all sales. Nintendo of Europe issued an official statement about the changes as of May 31. Which means the halting of sales is now in place. And it is no longer possible for users with a Russian eShop account to buy digital games or items.
While this does stop customers in Russia from buying new games, the eShop is not completely shutting down within the country. At least not for now.
Nintendo eShop in Russia will still operate amidst the halting of sales
That is, it will operate in a limited capacity. Nintendo said in its statement that the eShop will still operate in a limited capacity for the foreseeable future. And the reason for this is to allow customers in Russia to download any games or DLC that were purchased before the eShop was put into maintenance. However, that’s about all customers with a Russian Nintendo account can do.
Customers within Russia will also no longer be able to create new Nintendo accounts with Russia set as the country within the settings. Additionally, Nintendo has “removed payment information associated with accounts, such as credit card and PayPal information for security reasons,” the company said.
The decision to halt sales was made in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It’s also the same decision that numerous other companies have made. Sony, Epic, Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, EA, and Ubisoft have all halted sales as of last year. Other large brands like McDonald’s have done the same.