What happens to a Nintendo account when someone dies
Nintendo of America publishes no process specific to a deceased person's account; the request starts by phone at 1-800-255-3700.
Under Nintendo of America's terms, a Nintendo account closes when the holder dies and nothing in it passes to anyone.
Nintendo of America publishes no process specific to a deceased person's account; the request starts by phone at 1-800-255-3700. The request takes 5 documents. Nintendo Customer Support answers at 1-800-255-3700 (Daily 6:00 AM-7:00 PM PT (except observed US holidays)).
What to do
- •Leave loaded virtual game cards in place. Any user on that console can play them.
- •Keep the pass-enabled console registered, and do not sign the account in on another console.
- •Keep the Nintendo Account. Deletion loses the library, points and eShop balance, and ends a family Nintendo Switch Online membership for every member.
- •Keep any console holding Animal Crossing: New Horizons intact. Its island data has no cloud backup and moves only with the Island Transfer tool.
- •A lapse ends cloud saves and classic games; cloud saves return on resubscribing within 180 days.
Required Documents
- Nintendo Account sign-in email: Needed for Nintendo Support to identify the account.
- Nintendo Network ID: for a legacy Wii U or Nintendo 3DS account. Needed for Nintendo Support to identify the account.
- Death certificate: enclosed with a written request
- Letters testamentary, letters of administration or equivalent proof of authority: enclosed with a written request. Enclosed so the request is documented, not because Nintendo has said it will act on them.
- Government-issued photo ID of the fiduciary: enclosed with a written request. Enclosed so the request is documented, not because Nintendo has said it will act on them.
What Nintendo of America Inc.'s terms say at death
- Section 8 (Digital Items)
“If you buy or acquire any Digital Items, you obtain a limited license (as set forth in Section 2) to use such Digital Items in connection with the Nintendo Account Services. Other than this limited license, you have no right or title in or to Digital Items. Digital Items cannot be sold or transferred to a third party (unless a transfer is permitted within the Nintendo Account Services) and cannot be exchanged for or converted to cash or legal tender or for any goods or services outside of the Nintendo Account Services.”1
What Nintendo of America Inc. says happens7
- Who owns the asset
Section 2 of the User Agreement grants a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Nintendo Account Services solely for personal and non-commercial use; the Services are licensed, not sold.1
Section 3 of the User Agreement makes a Nintendo Account personal to its holder and prohibits selling, renting, leasing, lending or transferring it.1
- Passwords and login
Section 3 of the User Agreement prohibits accessing or using a Nintendo Account belonging to another person.1
- Balances, payouts and refunds
eShop funds cannot be combined or transferred between different Nintendo Accounts, and can be used only with the account they were added to.2
The eShop card balance does not expire, cannot be redeemed for cash, and is non-refundable unless required by law.3
Nintendo's digital refund policy makes all payments through the Nintendo Account services final and non-refundable, except as authorized by Nintendo or as required by applicable law.4
The window to merge a Nintendo Network ID wallet into a Nintendo Account closed permanently on March 11, 2024, and an unmerged Wii U or Nintendo 3DS balance cannot now be used or merged.5
- Purchased content and licenses
Wii U and Nintendo 3DS eShop purchasing ended March 27, 2023, and online play and most other online functionality ended April 8, 2024. Owned content on those systems can still be redownloaded.5
- Subscriptions and billing
Under Section 5(b) of the Purchase and Subscription Terms, a Nintendo Switch Online renewal is deducted from the Nintendo Account funds no sooner than 48 hours before the subscription expires, and from a stored payment method only if the funds are insufficient.6
Deleting a family membership purchaser's Nintendo Account ends Nintendo Switch Online for the other members of the family group, and renewal and member management sit on the purchaser's account. A covered member can leave the group and buy an individual membership.7
Classic game libraries (NES, SNES, Game Boy, N64, Sega Genesis, GameCube) become inaccessible when the Nintendo Switch Online membership lapses.8
- Deletion and data retention
If the Nintendo Switch Online membership expires, the account loses access to Save Data Cloud backups, which can be accessed again on resubscribing within 180 days. Save data held in console system memory is unaffected.8
Nintendo states it cannot assure that cloud save data is retained after an extended period once a membership ends.8
Not in Nintendo's published guidance11
- A process for a deceased account holder
- How long a request takes
- A mailing address for a written request
- A form for estate requests
- A complete list of the documents to send
- Whether a certified death certificate is required
- How requests are reviewed
- An inactivity-deletion policy for Nintendo Accounts
- What happens to Save Data Cloud backups after the 180-day window
- A hold on the account while the estate is administered
- Disclosure of the purchase history to a fiduciary
Sources9
- 1.Nintendo Account User Agreement (US), Effective Date 05/2025
- 2.Nintendo Support: eShop funds cannot be combined or transferred between accounts
- 3.Nintendo eShop Card Terms and Conditions
- 4.Digital products refund policy
- 5.Wii U & Nintendo 3DS eShop discontinuation Q&A
- 6.Purchase and Subscription Terms
- 7.Nintendo Switch Online Service FAQ
- 8.Nintendo Support: Save Data Cloud retention
- 9.Do My Nintendo Points Expire?
A written request to Nintendo of America can ask it to refund an unspent balance, provide purchase and transaction records for the estate inventory, transfer the accounts to a named family member, close the account and preserve the account while the estate is opened.
The value that can still be kept is what the account holder moved while alive: Nintendo of America allows family pooling.
Digital Assets Recovery Letter for Nintendo drafts that request from the estate's details.
Sources
Data sourced from Nintendo of America Inc. primary sources (17 pages reviewed). How we research.
Nintendo estate claims
Nintendo Customer Support
Phone
International
Text/SMS support
TTY
Hours
Website
Estate requests go through general customer service.
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