Yesterday, Nintendo announced worldwide that the Club Nintendo service that began just over ten years ago (less in Australia) would be closing.
The internet reacted with anger, with shock and disbelief. Why would Nintendo stop a programme that rewarded fans, especially when they need it the most. Was Nintendo cutting corners because of their financial situation? All sorts of theories and questions were thrown around.
Never mind the fact they announced a replacement program to start later in the year.
But to me Nintendo closing Club Nintendo is a good idea, because while ‘free’ gifts are fun (and there was some really awesome things) pretty much everything else about Club Nintendo was a broken mess.
The whole ‘account system’ thing is a bit of a mess with Nintendo at the moment. They’re working on it and killing off Club Nintendo is just another step toward we hope will be a proper account system.
That account system will likely be the Nintendo Network ID which unfortunately doesn’t talk to Club Nintendo at all. Sure Club Nintendo can track your purchases and give you points and rewards based on digital games but that’s because you have to enter in your Club Nintendo account into your system independently of the Nintendo Network ID.
Club Nintendo started in 2003 in Europe, the Australian Club is based off that code and all the other region’s Clubs are all separate databases – its a bit of a mess. Killing off this infrastructure allows Nintendo to move forward in establishing a proper account system. Well we hope that’s what they’re doing.
We’ve already seen a couple examples of Nintendo pushing the NNID this year with a free giveaway of a wallpaper. Demos and early access to games are already off limits for those without a NNID.
So we know each region’s Club Nintendo is a little bit different. The Japanese get the coolest stuff of course but they also have the Platinum and Gold status. If you spent X amount per year, you’d be put into these classes and get some sweet rewards at the end of the year. Nintendo Japan killed that off last year, the first sign things were changing.
In America, they have a similar system but have made rewards less interesting in recent years to bemoan of American Nintendo fans. The standard rewards in America too have skewed digital in recent times, with Virtual Console games being offered up as rewards instead of trinkets and things you can actually hold in your hand.
Then there’s the European and Australian Club, we’re combine them because they’re basically the same. We have no Platinum/Gold system but we do get some cool stuff like those Mario Kart trophies. Then again we got wallpapers and ringtones last year, so mixed bag.
So why did I just explain this all to you? To point that while everyone moans about what their Club Nintendo gets (and yeah Japanese gamers complain too despite how good they have it) the Clubs have never been equal. Maybe this new program will have more digital rewards, we don’t know but we’re guessing things are going to be a lot more even.
Oh god, how many times did you have to enter in a code or a survey more than once because the site stuffed up? What if you hit back or opened another tab with Club Nintendo in it.
rm -RF / on this one and start fresh Nintendo.
The illusion of a loyalty program is something we all kind of accept. Frequent Flyers, Flybuys and yes even Club Nintendo give us ‘free’ things but always at a cost. Firstly you have to buy something to get another thing worse much less in return (more on that soon) and then the surveys.
Nintendo do these surveys for feedback for sure but also to see what sells and who’s buying what. It’s free market research, but I don’t expect this will change for the next program.
Plus being able to directly communicate with Nintendo about a game is kind of cool.
Another loyalty program of Nintendo’s recently closed as well. The Wii U Deluxe Digital Promotion was a great promotion and bonus for the owners of the Deluxe version of the Wii U. For every $10US or so you spent on the eShop you got 100 points, get to 500 points ($50US) and you get a $5 eShop credit. With a full price game in America at $60 and a ton of great games now out on the Wii U some people were able to get more than a $100 of vouchers quite easy in the short time the period was running.
But what about if it wasn’t just on the Wii U and not just for eShop games – but for every game? Nintendo does anything without testing it first. What if this Deluxe program is the future of Club Nintendo?
This might all just be wishful thinking but I don’t think Nintendo would close Club Nintendo worldwide, stop distributing cards just to bring back the very same thing. In a world now with PlayStation Plus and (less so) Xbox Live, there’s plenty of new things Nintendo could to reward it’s fans.
Bring on whatever is next.
It's Black, Back Again.
If these aren't the coolest graphics...
Loco Motive, MySims: Cozy Bundle, Stray, Nine Souls, Servonauts.