Nintendo has announced that it will shut down the eShop and all Switch network services in China in 2026. No reason has been given for the shutdown.
According to a notice posted on the official Chinese Nintendo website (thanks, Eurogamer), the eShop will cease selling games and software on March 31st, 2026, after which point you won't be able to buy any games from the eShop, nor will you be able to download demos, trials, or free games.
Following that, on May 15th of the same year, you won't be able to download games from the eShop, and you won't be able to redeem codes either. That means you won't be able to buy any DLC, and it also seems to mean you won't be able to download games you already own.
On the same day, all Switch-related network services will also be shut down, so you'll no longer be able to play Switch games online with your friends at that point.
You can see a full list of all of the games that will be affected by the network shutdown here. It's in Chinese, and we're using machine translation for it, but it seems relatively accurate to me (although I have little to no knowledge of Chinese as a language).
In order to compensate Chinese Switch gamers for this decision, Nintendo will give away up to four Nintendo games for users via their WeChat account. You'll need to have activated your Switch console, and you'll need to have stuck to the Terms of Use as well.
The list has a couple of...unusual entries using machine translation, but games like Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Yoshi's Crafted World can be redeemed, as well as Kirby Star Allies, New Pokemon Snap, and more.
The giveaway starts on November 27th and runs until March 31st, 2026, and you'll need to use WeChat's game redemption applet in order to take advantage of it.
Do note that you'll have to download whatever games you decide to grab before May 15th, or else your free games will be gone for good. It's also worth noting that as far as we know, this doesn't affect the eShop anywhere else in the world.
News of the eShop's closure in China comes amid fevered speculation about the Switch 2, which Nintendo is due to reveal sometime before April. It's not clear what this might mean for the Switch 2 in China.
