Nintendo is pulling the plug on its Gold Points program, one of the few incentives for buying digital games on the Switch. As of March 24, 2025, players will no longer earn Gold Points when purchasing digital content on the Nintendo eShop. It’s another move that reminds us—Nintendo rarely makes things easier for its fans.
HOW GOLD POINTS WORKED
For years, Gold Points have been a solid way to score discounts on future digital game purchases. Every time you bought a game digitally, you earned a percentage back in points, which could be redeemed for savings. Simple, effective, and actually beneficial to players. Naturally, Nintendo has decided to kill it off.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER MARCH 24, 2025?
While earning Gold Points on digital purchases is getting the axe, there are a few exceptions where you can still rack them up:
- Pre-orders made before March 24, 2025 – If you pre-order a digital game before 9:30 PM PDT on March 24, you’ll still get Gold Points, even if the payment goes through later. Points will be added the day after your payment is processed.
- Physical game purchases – If a game was released on or before March 24, 2025, you can still earn Gold Points when you buy a physical copy—even after the deadline. But keep in mind, you can only claim points for physical games within one year of their original release date.
- Nintendo New York Store purchases – Gold Points will still be available for purchases made at the Nintendo New York store, but only until March 24, 2025.
THANKS FOR NOTHING, NINTENDO
Nintendo’s My Nintendo Rewards program has never been perfect, but Gold Points were one of the few legitimately useful features. Now, with this program getting gutted, players are left with fewer incentives to go digital—especially when physical games already offer better resale value.
No real reason was given for the change, but if you’ve got points sitting in your account, use them before they become worthless.
