Nintendo’s relations with Russia have been very messy in recent years. Nintendo’s Russian president was investigated for workplace misconduct by Nintendo of Europe, which operates the subsidiary. Their investigation in 2019 resulted in a warning being issued, and he will apologize to all Nintendo Russia employees. Nintendo as a whole would later be forced to postpone Advance Wars 1 + 2 Reboot Camp due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The game has since been released, but the troubles are not over. It’s been more than a year since Russia invaded Ukraine, and the war is still going on. Activision-Blizzard, Epic Games, Take-Two, Sony, Microsoft and EA have stopped sales in the country. Meanwhile, Nintendo stopped shipping products to Russia last year, and the Nintendo Switch eShop went into maintenance in the country after payment service providers suspended Russian ruble transactions. Since then, we haven’t heard much about what Nintendo plans to do with its business operations in Russia.
However, that changed today with an email Nintendo of Europe sent to publishers, according to Game Developer. According to the email, “as a result of the economic outlook, Nintendo of Europe has decided to shut down the operations of its Russian subsidiary. As part of our efforts to honor our previous commitments to our customers in the Russian market, the Russian version of the Nintendo eShop will be set to offer limited service.” Russian players will not be able to use download codes and make purchases in the eShop, and for security reasons, all payment information associated with Russian Nintendo accounts, such as credit card and PayPal information, will be deleted.
The email also states that “starting on May 31, 2023 and for the foreseeable future, Russian users with an existing Nintendo Account will be able to re-download previously purchased digital content. It will not be possible to make new purchases or use download codes inside [the] Nintendo eShop in Russia”.
