The My Nintendo Rewards Program Has Been Activated In Japan
Nintendo’s home country now has My Nintendo, the new rewards program from the Shrine of Mario. By visiting Miiverse and the eShop at least once a week, purchasing eShop games and using their new phone app Miitomo, you can accrue points that can then be spent. Today we know what they can be spent on. Here’s the Japanese offerings, and it’s likely we’ll receive similar prizes.
Remember the closing months of Club Nintendo when all the company offered was virtual downloads from the eShop? My Nintendo is not an improvement. The majority of offerings are either free digital copies of older games, or discounts on newer ones. There’s one title revealed so far that’s an exclusive My Nintendo reward: a Twilight Princess-themed version of Picross. Other than that, your reward for buying things is to buy more things.
What has me a bit worried is the running theme in all this: digital. Until we see proof otherwise, it looks like only digital games count and only digital rewards can be collected. Is Nintendo trying to encourage more sales to shift to the virtual side for a reason? This is just paranoia talking, but I don’t want to come out of E3 with the knowledge the NX doesn’t take discs at all. That would be a huge mistake and the uproar from their fanbase wold be far greater than the stink over a Metroid game without Samus in it.
If the pandemonium over amiibo should have taught them any lesson, it’s this: Nintendo fans, especially those in America, love physical items. It’s sad to see Club Nintendo never reach its full potential and My Nintendo not even try.