Sayonara, Club Nintendo; What’s Next?

As of yesterday, you can no longer register products with Nintendo’s customer loyalty program.  This means no more coins, which means no more rewards because well, Club Nintendo’s shutting down.  If you’ve still got extra coins, spend spend spend, because they won’t carry over to whatever customer loyalty program Nintendo rolls out next.  It’s lights out for Club Nintendo North America as of June 30^th at midnight; the shutdown follows through for the rest of the globe on September 30^th.  But hey, chin up!  Club Nintendo’s successor is coming, probably by the end of this year.  I’d say we could some major announcements within a month of shutdown date.

So what can we expect from the new loyalty program?  Remember those little announcements a week or two ago about a new Nintendo platform, the NX?  And the other one about a joint venture with DeNA?

From a recent live announcement with Satoru Iwata (Nintendo) and Isao Moriyasu (DeNA):

“Nintendo, together with DeNA, will jointly develop a new membership service which encompasses the existing Nintendo 3DS and Wii U systems, the new hardware system with a brand-new concept, NX, and smart devices and PCs, and Nintendo will be the primary party to operate this new membership service.  Unlike the Club Nintendo membership service that Nintendo has been operating, the new membership service will include multiple devices and create a connection between Nintendo and each individual consumer regardless of the device the consumer uses. This membership will form one of the core elements of the new Nintendo platform that I just mentioned.”

Not exactly a tell-all, but that’s the scent of change on the wind.