With the PS5 re-releasing PS4 games and Xbox not caring about their exclusives, it’s easy to root for Nintendo and assume they’re the good guys. After all, the company chooses gameplay over graphics, releases quality titles, and has big plans for the Switch 2.
However, all of that came crashing down when the company announced that gold points were being taken away. Not long after, fans also discovered that they couldn’t use the $100 Gift Vouchers to buy upcoming Switch 2 games.
This is a pretty big reminder that Nintendo, no matter how many good games they make, are not a “good” gaming corporation. In reality, there are no good gaming corporations because they all prioritize money over being human beings.
Sure, Nintendo might be the lesser evil in some scenarios, but they can also be the biggest bad guys in others.
For the sake of objectivity, we’ve seen this company handle some of its biggest fumbles with grace. When the Wii U bombed, President Satoru Iwata cut his salary in half so the company wouldn’t fire its employees. Iwata actually cut his salary in half again because, despite some quality games, the Wii U was just not making money.
Considering how companies like Activision Blizzard and Microsoft tend to cut people during their best days, it was noteworthy that Nintendo didn’t do anything like that back then. A lot of these harsh decisions are still being made now, as NetEase Games fired a ton of their Marvel Rivals employees.
But even with all of that, Nintendo are far from innocent when it comes to being a major gaming corporation. A man who hacked the Switch now has to pay this company 30% of his allowance for the rest of his life. The company has also taken down a number of fan projects that weren’t for profit, because they hate it when other people use their properties.
Removing My Nintendo Gold Points was disappointing but not surprising. While the company could have another rewards program planned to replace this one, they don’t want fans to have discounts anymore. Keep in mind that these discounts were never that big to begin with, so removing them feels pretty.
We feel similarly about Gift Vouchers not working for Switch 2 games, though it’s still sad that Nintendo removed them. Buying two brand-new Switch games for $100 was a steal, especially for those getting the $70 Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, so knowing that this deal isn’t carrying over is disappointing. The voucher helped differentiate Nintendo from Sony and Microsoft, so seeing them remove it from their next-generation console has us rolling our eyes.
We won’t tell fans to boycott Nintendo or the Switch 2 by any means. We only have so much time in the world, and people should spend their money on what makes them happy. It’s a shame to see a company build up so much goodwill and throw some of that away for more money.
Then again, this is Nintendo we’re talking about.