Nintendo released system update 23.5.0 on November 9, 2026, for the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, and the highlight is a feature players have requested for years: the ability to gift digital products from the Nintendo eShop. The feature itself still depends on a separate store update, which Nintendo says will arrive on November 16 — the system update notes list November 17, a difference that likely reflects time zones between the regional announcements.
How Nintendo eShop gifting works
Once live, players will be able to buy digital games, DLC and upgrade packs on the Nintendo eShop and send them as gifts to a member of their Nintendo Account family group, which can include up to eight accounts. Gifts are sent immediately, with no option to schedule them, and supervised accounts cannot send gifts. Only members of the family group can receive them: it will not be possible to gift someone who is only on the friends list.
Using the feature requires system version 23.5.0 or later. The update installs automatically on consoles connected to the internet, and it can also be started manually from the system settings menu.
What else changes in update 23.5.0
On Switch 2, the update also lets players configure accessibility settings during the console’s first-time setup and adds Portuguese (Portugal) to the text-to-speech options and to GameChat’s convert text to speech feature. On the original Switch, version 23.5.0 brings support for Nintendo eShop gifting and general stability improvements.
Nintendo confirmed the news on its official website, and Nintendo of America also announced the feature on X on November 10, 2026, noting that it arrives in time for the holiday season. According to press coverage, it is the first time since the Wii Shop Channel closed in January 2019 that a Nintendo store has offered digital gifting.
The feature arrives at a good moment for the Switch 2, which posted its best sales week of 2026 in the United States, driven by the 40th anniversary Zelda edition, according to a Geekiki report with Circana data: Switch 2 posts its best US sales week of 2026.
Image credit: Nintendo Switch 2 in TV mode, photo by PantheraLeo1359531, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-4.0).
Sources:
- Nintendo — Coming soon: Gift digital games to family group members
- Nintendo Support — System Update Information for Nintendo Switch 2
- Polygon — Nintendo Adds eShop Gifting to Switch Consoles
Transparency: this article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence, cross-referencing public posts on X and sources from the internet. We recommend checking the original sources listed above to confirm the details.
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