Until now, anyone wanting to give someone a Switch game as a gift has had to choose between a physical copy and a gift card. There's no option to gift digital games directly, something that was already being criticized in community discussions back in 2020. While a boxed game might make for a nicer present, there are plenty of situations where Switch users would prefer a digital version – for example, when a game is on sale or when they can't hand over the gift in person.
With system update 23.5.0 for the Switch 2, Nintendo has now introduced technical support for a new gifting feature. According to the official patch notes from November 9, it will allow users to gift products from the Nintendo eShop. There is one restriction, however: The feature will only work within a Nintendo Account family group. In other words, users won't be able to send digital Switch games to just any friend, only to members of the same family group. It's also unclear whether all content on the Nintendo eShop will be eligible for gifting. The feature could potentially be limited to certain titles.
Wrapped in digital gift paper
