Nintendo is adding eShop gifting for family group members
Nintendo will let users gift eligible digital games, DLC and upgrade packs to members of their Nintendo Account family group.
Nintendo is preparing a feature that will let users gift eligible digital games, DLC and upgrade packs to members of their Nintendo Account family group. The company’s U.S. announcement says the feature is due November 16, but Nintendo’s system-update support page says it will become available after eShop maintenance scheduled for November 17. Nintendo has not explained the one-day difference.
The feature will work on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 systems running software version 23.5.0 or later. That update adds support for gifting, but users still have to wait for the eShop rollout before they can send purchases.
Gifts are limited to family group members
A Nintendo Account family group can include up to eight accounts. Users will be able to choose an eligible digital product in the eShop and send it to another person in their group.
This is not a way to gift games to any account on a friends list. The recipient must belong to the purchaser’s family group, and some products may not be eligible.
The feature covers games and add-ons
Nintendo says users will be able to gift eligible digital games, DLC and upgrade packs. The company has not published a full list of products that will be excluded.
Supervised accounts cannot send gifts. Nintendo also says it will limit the number of gift purchases users can make within a given period, though it has not specified the exact limit.
How sending and receiving a gift works
The purchaser selects “Give as a Gift” on an eligible eShop product page, chooses a family group member and selects which of that person’s linked systems should receive it. The purchase is then completed through the eShop.
Gifts are sent immediately. They appear on the recipient’s HOME Menu, where the recipient can accept the item and play it.
The rollout date needs clarification
Nintendo’s announcement page lists November 16, while its system-update support page places availability after eShop maintenance scheduled for November 17. The system update itself is already available, but the gifting feature is not active until the eShop change takes effect.
Until Nintendo clarifies the date, November 16 and 17 are both listed on its official pages. The feature’s family-group requirement and system-version requirement are consistent across the announcements.