Nintendo Is Changing Its Refund Policy for eShop Pre-Orders

Nintendo has been pretty strict in its policy on eShop refunds at times, especially with pre-orders made in error. That all changes now though, because Nintendo announced earlier today that you'll now be able to cancel pre-orders no less than seven days before the pre-ordered game or software launches.

The announcement was made earlier today through the official Japanese Nintendo website (and translated by the ever-reliable @PushDustin). The announcement states that effective immediately, you'll now be able to cancel pre-orders made through the Nintendo eShop up to seven days before the software itself is set to launch.

Previously, Nintendo has held firm on its policy of no cancelations and no refunds for pre-orders made in error, something I remember being discussed earlier this year when Pokemon Sword and Shield's Isle of Armor DLC was set to launch. I remember some users that had accidentally purchased the Expansion Pass for the wrong version of the game, and that were then unable to get their purchase refunded due to Nintendo's pre-order policies.

It's a relief that Nintendo is changing its pre-order refund policy slightly. It's definitely catching up to the likes of PlayStation's store policies for example, which state that you can cancel and refund your pre-order anytime up until the software itself launches, if you contact PlayStation Support. This isn't far removed from Xbox's store policy, which similarly states that you can cancel pre-orders any time before the game launches.

Looking further ahead with Nintendo, the company is going pretty quiet for the remainder of 2020. According to a recent report however, this is all before the upgraded Switch model launches in 2021, which Nintendo is said to be looking into 4K support for.