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Last year, Nintendo got itself into hot water with fans after only offering digital items as rewards for gaining Elite status in its loyalty program, Club Nintendo. After recent news that the service will be discontinued at the midpoint of the year, the company has revealed that, once again, gifts for big fans will be digital-only. Players will be able to choose between “a downloadable game from a wide selection of Nintendo 3DS and Wii U titles.”
“Your free Elite Status gift will be available between April 1 and April 30, 2015. A list of the Elite Status 2015 gifts will be posted here once announced,” said the official discontinuation notice.
To qualify, players will need to earn 300 coins (for Gold status) or 600 coins (for Platinum status) before March 31. The move is likely to anger those who expected better prizes this year, as instead they are getting the same prizes as well as their service shut down.
Source: Nintendo Everything
“The move is likely to anger those who expected better prizes this year…”
I suspect that expectations have been sufficiently lowered over the past few years that most reasonable people weren’t expecting much.
It’s interesting to look back and see how closely related NoA’s bottom line is to the quality of the prizes offered. With both 3DS and Wii U selling rather poorly, it’s no wonder the customer reward program is being shut down.
HULK SMASH!
I’m really saddened by this. I was expecting it, but I was hoping they would end off with a bang. I will be able to claim that I was a platinum member every year that Club Nintendo was in existence. I wish that that actually meant something to Nintendo.