It’s no secret that the Nintendo Switch eShop is filled with a lot of bad games. Quality is a subjective thing of course, but one of the biggest problems the eShop has faced over the last eight years is that developers continue filling up the digital marketplace with knock-offs and spam. Nintendo seems to be well-aware of that problem, and has taken steps to turn things around for the Switch 2 era. According to a report from IGN, several developers have shared new guidelines that were put in place last month, coinciding with the launch of Nintendo Switch 2.
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These guidelines seem to be designed to crack down on manipulation of the eShop. Nintendo is restricting and removing tools that developers and publishers have used to elevate knock-off and spam games. The problem is that these games were often getting highlighted on the eShop during sales, which would draw attention away from more legitimate games. Anyone that has ever checked the eShop during a sale can attest to the fact that a lot of bad games will appear in the results before games made by some of the world’s biggest publishers.
As IGN notes, the new guidelines target misleading game descriptions, place limits on the number of times games can be bundled together, and place greater restrictions on “sensitive content.” That last detail might give Nintendo fans flashbacks to the days of the original Mortal Kombat being highly censored on the SNES. However, this is clearly not going to have an impact on major AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077. Instead, it appears to be an effort to target “content that clearly exploits a topical and controversial social issue, tragedy, or catastrophic event.” Importantly, Nintendo is also limiting developers from changing the names of games, as well as the page descriptions.
Developers have been open about the problems that are common on the eShop. Back in December, Unpacking developer Witch Beam revealed that a knock-off on Switch was infringing on the game’s trademark. The developers of the knock-off game had also released several bundles that made it difficult for casual consumers to figure out the real game. A glimpse at Nintendo’s new guidelines suggests that Nintendo took this all seriously, and is making a greater effort to ensure this sort of thing doesn’t become an issue in the Switch 2 era.
Hopefully all of these changes will result in a much better version of the eShop. It’s a little too early to tell whether Nintendo will strictly enforce these new policies, but the Switch 2 eShop already seems highly improved over the one on the previous system. On top of spam games and knock-offs appearing less frequently in search results, the actual performance of the eShop has been greatly improved. It’s the little changes that make a new video game system more enjoyable, and we’ll have to see if Nintendo can use this opportunity to make life easier for both users and developers alike.
Do you think these changes will help make the eShop a better place? What additional changes would you still like to see? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
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