Nintendo has announced that the Nintendo Switch eShop and every other online service tied to the platform will shut down in China by 2026. Any user who is currently a Nintendo customer will now be able to buy any games or software from March 31, 2026, onward. This date also applies to free games as well. On May 15, 2026, the ability to redeem codes and buy DLC for already purchased games will also expire.
For the uninitiated, the Nintendo Switch is being sold in China in partnership with Tencent, the massive video game company that owns some of the biggest developers inside and outside China. And this partnership seems to be coming to an end.
The Nintendo Switch was originally launched in China in 2020, and it came with only one first-party game, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, but the list continued to grow in the following years and some older titles were brought over to the Chinese market.
This exit comes with some boons for players. From November 27 2024 to March 31, 2026, those who have a Nintendo Switch from China with an active WeChat account (the super app that does everything from socials to banking to communication) will get up to 4 free games from the Nintendo eShop. The games that players can choose from are as follows:
- New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Super Mario Party
- Mario Tennis Aces
- Yoshi’s Crafted World
- Flexible Brain School
- Dr Kawashima’s Brain Exercises
- Kirby Star Allies
- New Pokémon Snap
- Pokémon Go! Pikachu
- Pokémon Let’s Go! Eevee
The users who have an active WeChat account tied to their Nintendo Switch will only be able to claim these games once. So if they have multiple Nintendo Switch consoles, they will require multiple WeChat IDs as well to be able to claim the free games on multiple consoles.
