How to refund a game on Nintendo Switch

Source: Rebecca Spear / iMore

Going through the best Nintendo Switch games is normally a great experience, but what happens if you realize a game just isn’t for you? Unfortunately, Nintendo doesn’t have a great platform for getting refunds on the Nintendo Switch, but there are some specific cases where it’s possible. Here’s how to refund a game on Nintendo Switch.

How to refund a game on Nintendo Switch

Unfortunately, Nintendo doesn’t allow you to refund digital games that you haven’t pre-ordered, even if you purchased the game or DLC by mistake. Nintendo’s official policy is that you need to be more careful and should read online reviews ahead of buying something.

If you’ve preordered a game from the Nintendo eShop and are looking to get a refund, you can do so as long as the game isn’t seven days away from launch or sooner. If it is, Nintendo won’t allow you to get a refund. This policy may be changing soon, as Nintendo got into legal trouble over the issue in Dec. 2021, with a German court ordering the company to allow refunds for preorders at any point before the launch of a game.

Nintendo Switch refunds: How to cancel a preorder:

There’s two ways of canceling a game you’ve preordered on Nintendo Switch, as you can use your web browser or your Nintendo Switch. Here’s how to cancel a preorder on Nintendo Switch using a web browser:

1. Head to accounts.nintendo.com.
2. Sign in using your account information.
3. Select Shop Menu.
4. Now, select Your Pre-orders.
5. Navigate to the game you want to cancel and select Cancel.

Alternatively, you can just cancel the order from your Nintendo Switch:

1. Open the Nintendo eShop.
2. Open the user account that has the order you want to cancel.
3. Select the user icon.
4. Scroll until you can select Your Pre-orders.
5. Choose the order you want to cancel and select Cancel.

Your preorder should now be canceled. If you have further issues, or the order won’t cancel properly despite not being less than seven days to launch, you’ll need to contact Nintendo Support.

Choose carefully when having fun

Hopefully Nintendo changes its policies for refunds in the future for canceling preorders less than seven days out and allowing at least some kind of return policy. Until that time, please make absolutely sure that you want to buy something. If you’re looking for information on the latest Nintendo games, we’ll have reviews of Nintendo’s first-party titles right here on iMore, so you can check to see if your questions are answered before buying a game.