Nintendo Is Ditching Its Best Game Deals For Switch 2

One of the biggest downsides of the Switch is that Nintendo’s first-party games rarely go on sale. That makes the Switch a more expensive console to play on than it might seem, but fortunately, Nintendo has a couple of official programs that allow players to get discounted or even free games. However, that’s set to end before the launch of the next console, the Switch 2, as Nintendo is discontinuing Switch Game Vouchers and its Gold Points rewards program.

On March 18, Nintendo announced on social media that its Gold Points program is going away. Under the program, players received five percent of the purchase price of Switch games back as Gold Points, which could be applied to the purchase of games in the future. Any purchases made until March 25 will still earn Gold Points, but the program will cease after that. Any points players still have on their accounts will remain valid for 12 months after they were earned, even after March 25.

On top of that, Nintendo says its other big discount program won’t be making its way to the Switch 2 either. Switch Online subscribers can currently buy a pair of Nintendo Switch Game Vouchers for $100, and trade each in for one of a selection of the console’s biggest games. With major games costing between $60 and $70 each at launch, Game Vouchers can add up to a lot of savings for players who purchase a lot of Nintendo games. While Nintendo hasn’t announced the end of the program, it did add a note to the Game Vouchers page on its website that they won’t work for games exclusive to the Switch 2.

A Nintendo Direct focused entirely on the Switch 2 is coming on April 2, which makes the timing of the Gold Points program’s end feel a bit suspicious. If the end of Gold Points is due to the Switch 2 launch, it could be for any number of reasons. There may be some unknown difficulty in making Gold Points function the same across both the Switch and Switch 2 storefronts. It could also mean that Nintendo plans to increase the price on Switch 2 games and the percentage-based Gold Points reward program would have to change as a result. The most likely reason for the program’s end is just that Nintendo wants players buying new Switch 2 games instead of continuing to grow their original Switch library, and it wants them spending as much money as possible while they do it. That would also explain why Switch 2 won’t be eligible for Game Vouchers, since players are more likely to stretch their budgets when buying games for a brand-new console.

It’s also entirely possible that Nintendo will launch a separate rewards program just for games on the new console and it wants to wrap up the old Gold Points system before that begins. Getting a few dollars in eShop store credit with each new game purchase isn’t going to break Nintendo’s bank, but it is a nice bonus for players. For people who gravitate toward indie games more than first-party titles, buying just a few full-price games per year can sometimes mean getting a smaller release totally free.

As much of a bummer as the end of the Gold Points program is, it’s the stipulations to Game Vouchers that could really hit Nintendo fans in the wallet. A five-percent rebate is nice, but it’s nothing compared to getting two brand-new games for $10 off each. Even more than ditching Gold Points, disallowing Game Vouchers for Switch 2 titles suggests that Nintendo might be raising first-party prices for the upcoming console.

If $70 is the standard asking price for Nintendo titles instead of a rare outlier, it makes sense that Nintendo wouldn’t want to offer what amounts to a $40 discount on two games, but it hurts diehard fans the most. Nintendo is known for making sales on first-party games small and rare, meaning that all but the most patient of players will end up forking over the full amount for new releases.