Nintendo announced on February 19 that it has established a new subsidiary in Taiwan, which will formally begin operations on April 1, 2025.
Nintendo closed their previous Taiwan subsidiary, Nintendo Phuten, back in 2014. Since then, Taiwan has been under the umbrella of Nintendo Hong Kong. However, on April 1, Nintendo’s business in Taiwan will be transferred over to the new subsidiary.
According to a report from Game*Spark, this decision has been made to strengthen Nintendo’s business in Taiwan and improve customer service. Nintendo Switch Online services have been very limited in Taiwan, only covering updates, friends, and social media functions. It is not possible to buy anything from the Nintendo eShop nor play online games. Without an online storefront, Switch users in Taiwan have to rely on the more limited game selection offered by local retailers, often at higher prices). Consequently, the Japanese Nintendo eShop was one of Taiwanese gamers’ go-to places to buy Switch games, however from March 25 onwards, the Japanese store will no longer accept credit cards issued overseas.
As a result, this news of a new Taiwan subsidiary seems to have made local gamers excited in the hopes that the current situation will improve, and that Taiwan will get its own online store front. “We don’t have a Nintendo e-Shop for Taiwan, so it would be great if they take this opportunity to set one up!” said one commenter, although they also reminisced about the online service being very slow in Taiwan back in the Wii days.
It is also worth noting that Nintendo really pulled out all the stops at Taipei Game Show last year, with a huge booth prominently featuring characters from many switch games (there was even an animatronic Kirby…). The establishment of the new subsidiary in Taiwan indicates that Nintendo sees the region as important to its future growth and could also be part of preparations for the Switch 2’s global launch.
