Nintendo's New "Nintendo Account" Launches in Japan

[Steven Bogos]

Nintendo's New "Nintendo Account" Launches in Japan

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1011/1011743.png
In a surprise move, Nintendo has launched the Nintendo Account in Japan three months early.

Earlier in the year, Nintendo actually launched in their home region today [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/161220-Miitomo-Nintendos-First-Smartphone-Game-Announced].

The biggest advantage of the new unified account is the ability to browse the eShop from your desktop computer or smartphone, and have purchases sent directly to their respective consoles.

As an added incentive for Japanese fans to try out the new online service, Nintendo is giving back 100 yen for every 1000 yen spent on the eShop using a Nintendo Account, from now until February 1.

Note that Nintendo's replacement to the recently discontinued Miitomo [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/141422-Club-Nintendo-Closes-Today].

There's no word on when any of these features will make their way over to North America.

Source: Polygon [http://www.polygon.com/2015/12/1/9827756/nintendo-opens-new-account-system-in-japan]

Permalink

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

So...Wait, why?
Was Nintendo worried they'd lose the Japanese market? That the average Japanese gamer won't buy 10+ copies of the same game on 4 different consoles?
Pretty sure they've got that market down...

 

[ccggenius12]

So...Wait, why?
Was Nintendo worried they'd lose the Japanese market? That the average Japanese gamer won't buy 10+ copies of the same game on 4 different consoles?
Pretty sure they've got that market down...

Well, the plan is to take it worldwide, so I'd think of the early Japanese release as more of an Open Beta in a very forgiving environment.
I await that rewards program with bated breath.

 

[weirdee]

better not pull that shit again where the reward store in japan has mario cadillacs and the noa store has one postcard of toad's ass out of focus

 

[major_chaos]

Welcome to 2005 Nintendo, I know this brave new non-1998 world is strange and confusing but I think you can adapt.

Snark aside I really am happy about this, hopefully it launches stateside without any egregious fuckups so I can actually use the Eshop. If it works flawlessly the chances of me buying a WiiU actually jump quite a bit.

 

[Bad Player]

Just converted my NNID to this and... uh... there really isn't much to it yet. You can change your password, change your e-mail, and see your entire eShop purchase history.

That's about it.

It seems that while they opened up registration now, the actual main features of the system won't be launched until March 2016.