Summary
AmazonandNintendoappear to be up to something, but as of right now, it’s unclear what that something might be. Last month,Amazon canceled pre-orders for several upcoming Switch games, not explaining why and those titles remain unavailable on Amazon. Now,as first noticed by Nintendeal, you can no longer buy eShop gift cardsthrough Nintendo’s Amazon store, although a few remain available via third-party sellers.
Nintendo eShop gift cards have typically been available through Amazon in various denominations, starting from $5 and going up to $99 with different Nintendo characters on each of them. The store pages for all of Nintendo’s gift cards remain live on Amazon, as do the pages listing them all, however, all of them are “currently unavailable”. Much like the pre-order cancelations, there’s no clear reason why Amazon would do this.
One leading theory is that Nintendo and Amazon have had a falling out of some kind. However, gift cards are still available on Amazon in other countries. Nintendo also still has a storefront on Amazon through which most of its games remain available. Another theory is Nintendo is winding down sales of eShop gift cards in preparation forits Switch 2 announcement. That doesn’t explain why Amazon canceled pre-orders for upcoming games, though.
What’s Going On Between Amazon And Nintendo?
Endless Ocean: Luminous, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, andLuigi’s Mansion 2 HDwere the three games affected. Pre-orders for the two upcoming games remain unavailable on Amazon, and even though Endless Ocean has since been released, it is simply not available on Amazon. Curiouser and curiouser, although something like this being shrouded in mystery is hardly out of character for Nintendo. It’s also likely that if the reasoning is ever explained, it still won’t make much sense.
Pre-orders for Thousand-Year Door and Luigi’s Mansion 2are still available through other retailers, as are eShop gift cards. Odds are we may never know what’s going on between Nintendo and Amazon, but there’s also a chance we find out something more in June. Nintendo has confirmed a Direct outlining what it has coming our way in the second half of 2024 will be shown in June. It has also finally confirmed a Switch successor is coming, and that it will tell us more about it before the end of the current financial year.
