NEWS | NINTENDO SWITCH & SWITCH 2
Nintendo is finally preparing to let people give eligible Nintendo eShop products to someone else. For a digital storefront that’s been selling games for years, that sounds like a straightforward quality-of-life improvement. The small print, however, is where this announcement becomes much more interesting.
Nintendo UK’s official system update notes confirm that version 23.5.0, released on 10 November 2026, adds support for an upcoming gifting feature. The company says gifting is scheduled to become available after Nintendo eShop maintenance on 17 November 2026. The update prepares the console; it does not mean gifting is already available today.
The important word is ‘family’
Nintendo’s notes describe gifting to a member of your Nintendo Account family group. That is materially narrower than opening the eShop, choosing a game and sending it to any friend who happens to own a Switch. It also means this should not yet be described as a general Nintendo gift-code service.
The distinction matters for households with multiple Switch users, particularly when one person handles the family purchases. It is much easier to imagine buying a digital title directly for another family member than handing over an eShop balance and asking them to track down the game themselves.
Nintendo has now shared a more detailed official preview for North America. Eligible games, DLC and upgrade packs can be selected on Nintendo eShop using a Give as a Gift option. You choose a recipient from your Nintendo Account family group, select their linked console and choose a gift-wrap colour; the recipient then accepts the gift from their HOME Menu. Nintendo says some products are excluded, supervised accounts cannot send gifts, and purchases are subject to frequency limits. That’s useful practical detail, but it comes from Nintendo’s US announcement, which cites a 16 November start. Nintendo UK specifies availability after maintenance on 17 November, and regional payment and eligibility details should still be checked when the UK service opens.
What this means for Switch owners
For the moment, the genuinely useful information is simple: install the system update, check that the recipient is in your Nintendo Account family group, and look for the feature after the scheduled 17 November maintenance. Do not assume you can gift to an unrelated account, and do not buy a game expecting to transfer it later without checking the actual gifting process first.
Our take: welcome, but keep expectations sensible
Digital gifting has always seemed like one of those features nobody should need to explain. A gift should travel to the person you bought it for, rather than becoming a little financial puzzle involving account credit and handwritten instructions. Nintendo’s planned approach looks helpful for families, especially ahead of the Christmas buying season.
The catch is flexibility. If the feature remains tied strictly to family groups, it will solve a household problem without solving the broader question of gifting games to friends. That’s still progress, just not the free-for-all that the word ‘gifting’ might suggest.
Official sources: Nintendo UK system update information, version 23.5.0 and Nintendo’s US gifting preview, 9 November 2026. The illustrative screenshots are from Nintendo’s US preview. We have not tested the gifting feature prior to launch.