Nintendo is getting ready to pull the plug on Club Nintendo, the customer loyalty program that kicked off in Europe and Japan in the early Aughts but didn’t make its way to North America until 2008. Fans can look forward to it being replaced by another loyalty program, to be announced at a later date, but that’s all we know about it at this point.
The nuts and bolts of the shutdown are as follows: Club Nintendo members in the United States and Canada can continue to earn coins — the program’s rewards currency — through the end of March 2015. Earned coins can then be redeemed through the end of June.
Nintendo promises to add new reward options for members to choose from in February, as well as an assortment of downloadable games. All Club Nintendo members also have the option of nabbing Flipnote Studio 3D for free, starting in February and running through June 30, when Club Nintendo’s coin redemption also ends.
“We thank all Club Nintendo members for their dedication to Nintendo games and their ongoing love for our systems and characters,” said Nintendo of America’s Scott Moffitt in a statement. “We want to make this time of transition as easy as possible for our loyal Club Nintendo members, so we are going to add dozens of new rewards and downloadable games to help members clear out their Coin balances.”
Given the late-June final end date for all things Club Nintendo, it’s reasonable to expect that an announcement regarding what’s next will happen at or slightly before the annual E3 trade show in early June.
