My Nintendo: Gold Coints to be useable on the Nintendo Switch eShop starting later today

Update: you will be able to start using Gold Coins earned on My Nintendo to make purchases on the Nintendo eShop starting later today, on March 5th (North America) / March 6th (Europe, Japan).

Also, Nintendo Switch rewards are no longer listed as “Coming soon” on My Nintendo, which implies the new system basically replaces them entirely.

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My Nintendo was launched back in 2016, and at first, the Platinum and Gold coins could only be used on Wii U or Nintendo 3DS rewards (as well as specific rewards for Nintendo’s various mobile games). After that, Nintendo began adding other types of rewards, such as wallpapers and calendars for PC and smart devices, but also discounts for My Nintendo Store items (only in Japan).

But even though the Nintendo Switch was launched almost a year ago, rewards for that platform are still MIA. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like they’re coming any time soon, but at the very least, players will be able to use their Gold Coins on the Nintendo eShop of the Nintendo Switch starting next month (in early March).

Basically, you will be able to use Gold Coins when purchasing content on the Nintendo eShop of the Nintendo Switch, either via the console itself or Nintendo’s website. You will have the option to pay for the remaining balance with Nintendo eShop funds, or any other payment method available (credit card, PayPal).

In case you’re wondering: no, there’s no limit on the amount of Gold Coins you can use to purchase something, which means that if you have enough of them, you can totally get something for “free”!

Here’s how much a Gold Coin is worth on the Nintendo eShop of the Nintendo Switch:

• 1 Gold Point = 1 cent (in your local currency)

Also, Nintendo is making changes to the amount of Gold Coins you get for each purchase on the Nintendo eShop. From early March, you will earn the amount of Gold Coins of the same monetary value as 5% of the price of what you’re purchasing:

• Downloadable content: you get 5% of the game’s price in Gold Coins
  • Nintendo Switch games and DLC on Nintendo eShop: 5% of the total paid amount
  • Nintendo 3DS games and Wii U games on Nintendo eShop: 5% of the total paid amount
  • Download codes: 5% of the undiscounted Nintendo eShop price of the same content
• Game cards (Nintendo Switch only): 1%
  • Nintendo Switch game: 1% of the undiscounted Nintendo eShop price of that game

NB: some content will not net you Gold Coins, though it’s not clear which ones yet
NB2: purchasing DLC on Nintendo Switch will only start netting you Gold Coins from early March (most likely at the same time as the “update” goes live).

Here’s an example: if you purchase a game that costs 50€ on the Nintendo eShop, you will get 250 Gold Coins (5% of 50€ = 2.5€, and since 1 Gold Coin = 1 cent, that’s 250 Gold Coins), instead of 70. This will then allow you to get 2.50€ off your next purchase.

And since you get the coins based on the total paid amount, you cannot get Gold Coins on the amount you paid using Gold Coins (unlike the Nintendo Network Premium programme on Wii U, where you could get money back on the money you got back).

One thing that doesn’t change is the expiration date of the Gold Coins: 12 months after they’ve been earned, and always at the end of a month (so if you get coins on March 12th 2018, they will expire on March 31st 2019).

Right now, it’s not clear what will happen to the My Nintendo rewards you can redeem using Gold Coins, since you will be able to get a lot more Gold Coins than before.

Finally, here’s some additional details:

• For purchases on Nintendo eShop or the official Nintendo website (where available), you automatically earn Gold Points worth the equivalent of 5% of your total paid amount.
• For redeeming a download code, you automatically earn Gold Points worth the equivalent of 5% of the undiscounted Nintendo eShop price of that content at the time of redemption. Only commercially distributed download codes qualify for points.
• For the purchase of a Nintendo Switch game card, you earn Gold Points worth 1% of the undiscounted Nintendo eShop price of that game. In order to receive the points, you need to register the game card on the HOME Menu of your Nintendo Switch console within two years (for Europe and South Africa) or one year (for all other countries) from the official release date of the game in your country. You can confirm the release date of a game by visiting its details page on Nintendo eShop.
• On Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Gold Points are only earned if your Nintendo Network ID is linked to your Nintendo Account at the time of purchase.
• Some content may be exempt from the earning or spending of Gold Points.
• The amount of points you can earn for a purchase can be confirmed on the product information page on Nintendo eShop.
• Gold Points are valid for 12 months from when they are earned, and always expire at the end of a month.

Source: Nintendo