- Nintendo has introduced new guidelines for the Switch 2 eShop in Asia
- The guidelines target several topics, including game bundles, and how they can be sold, sensitive content restrictions, and more
- These new guidelines are not yet live in the West
Nintendo has introduced new guidelines for the Nintendo Switch 2 eShop in Asia to seemingly combat low-quality games.
Back in May, the company updated the Nintendo Switch eShop to filter out cheap games and “slop,” and now, it has implemented further improvements by releasing new guidelines in Japan and some other Asian countries.
As IGN reports, the guidelines target several topics, including game bundles, and how they can be sold, sensitive content restrictions, prohibitions on inaccurate product descriptions, and when and how product information can be updated.
Firstly, in the first year of a game’s release, only a maximum of five game bundles may be distributed. The number can then increase for each year the game is available, up to a maximum of eight different bundles.
This new restriction appears to be a way to combat how publishers will constantly push bundles on the store to keep their games in the eShop top charts.
Nintendo is also tackling sensitive content on the platform, which includes “sexualization of children, overly sexual content, discrimination and hate, exploitation of social issues, instructing criminal activity, and political statements”. Inaccurate descriptions will now be forbidden.
“It is prohibited to provide inaccurate descriptions of the contents of a product. It is prohibited to provide description of the content of a product as under development if it is not expected to be implemented in the product,” the guidelines read.
Finally, publishers and developers will no longer be able to alter their game descriptions without good cause and are now prohibited from changing information on a game’s product page after it has gone live.
Developers will also need to contact Nintendo representatives if they intend to distribute an application “that does not include game elements.”
These new guidelines are not yet live in the West, but we expect something similar soon.