After many years of free game, accessory, and apparel offers, Nintendo has announced they will discontinue their Club Nintendo loyalty program this year. Nintendo plans to begin the phase out in March and by July 2015 the program should be no more.
According to Nintendo, Club Nintendo members will still have plenty of exciting items to purchase in the months leading up to the discontinuation, but new members will only be able to jump on-board until March. Once in, gamers will still be able to climb up the ladder to Gold or Platinum Status, but the options for upgrading one’s club will also soon dwindle.
From April 1st forward, Nintendo will no longer include product registration cards with their new products. Moreover, on April 20th they will discontinue digital registration of new games. And finally, on July 1st, Club Nintendo will come to an end.
Club Nintendo program discontinuation schedule
- 1/20/2015
- Products released after this date are not eligible for registration with Club Nintendo
- 3/31/2015
- Last day to earn Coins, register products with Club Nintendo, and sign up for new Club Nintendo membership
- 6/30/2015
- Last day to redeem Coins or access your account on the Club Nintendo website. Club Nintendo program shuts down at 11:59pm PT on 6/30/2015.
What Nintendo plans to do with their new loyalty program is unclear, but the hope is that it will be a better version, or approximation, of Club Nintendo. The loyalty program has been a cool way for Nintendo to reward their devoted fans, and it will be disappointing if they don’t come out with something similar...or better.
Our best guess is that Nintendo might be looking to offer a PS Plus or Xbox Live Gold type subscription whereby players can pay into an online service and in return gain access to free games, game discounts, and other fun goodies. Both PS Plus’ Instant Games Collection and Games With Gold have proven successful on their respective platforms, and a similar system could easily work on Nintendo’s Wii U and 3DS platforms. Then again, we’re talking about the company who very rarely discounts their 1st party releases, and has used free online as a major selling point of its systems.
Whatever the case may be with this new program, it’s the end of an era for Club Nintendo. Still, there aresome exciting things to look forward to. As we mentioned, Nintendo plans to reward their loyal members and fans with some worthwhile offers before the Club ends, but they have yet to reveal what those items might be.
How do you feel about Nintendo ending Club Nintendo? What would you like to see take its place?