It’s been quite a while, but Nintendo announced they would eventually be overhauling how gamers could use their Gold Points accumulated in their My Nintendo accounts. That change has now arrived, and instead of spending points on discounts toward specific games, they can be spent toward eShop purchases on Switch.
How points are accumulated has also been updated. Purchasing any game or DLC on the eShop will effectively give 5% back toward future purchases. Nintendo is obviously encouraging gamers to go digital, because buying a physical copy of a game and then registering it on your system is only worth 1% of the retail price. In other words, downloading a standard $60 game will net you 300 points, or $3, toward future downloads while a physical copy is only good for $0.60.
The unfortunate news is that the points expire after one year, so you’ll want to keep that in mind when making purchases so you don’t wind up losing potential discounts.
Source: Nintendo