Nintendo Switch firmware 23.5.0 readies eShop game gifting for families

Nintendo released new Nintendo Switch firmware, system update 23.5.0, for both the Switch 2 and the original Switch on Monday, 9 November 2026, and said the update prepares the consoles for a feature players have asked about for years: buying a digital game in the Nintendo eShop as a gift for someone else. The gifting itself switches on after a separate eShop update. Nintendo's US news post gives the date as Monday, 16 November 2026, while its system update notes and other regional pages give Tuesday, 17 November 2026. Gifts will be limited to members of the sender's Nintendo Account family group.

Gifting a digital game sounds simple, but on Nintendo's consoles it has not been possible until now. Nintendo's older support pages stated plainly that there was no way to send a gift through the Nintendo eShop. Families who wanted to give a game had to buy a physical cartridge, buy a prepaid eShop card, or log in on the other person's console. With update 23.5.0 and the eShop change that follows, a parent, sibling or partner in the same family group can buy a game on their own account and send it.

The family-group limit is the key detail. Gifts stay inside a group of up to eight accounts that already belong together, so a game cannot be sent to a stranger. Supervised accounts, the kind a parent manages for a child, are blocked from sending gifts at all.

The timing also matters. The feature arrives in mid-November, ahead of the year-end holiday season when many families buy games as presents. Nintendo has not said how many gifts can be bought in a period, so players will learn the limit only once gifting is live.

Fans also noticed a mismatch in Nintendo's own dates. The US news post names 16 November, while the system update notes and Nintendo's other regional sites name 17 November. The likeliest reading is that the eShop change rolls out on the 16th in the Americas and the 17th in other time zones, but Nintendo has not explained the difference.

Peepals calculation: a family group can have up to eight members, so one sender can gift to at most seven other people (8 − 1 = 7). The gap between the firmware release and gifting going live is seven to eight days (9 November to 16 or 17 November). Our calculation from the reported figures.

Short-term: Switch and Switch 2 owners should install update 23.5.0 now; once the eShop update arrives, they can send eligible digital games to family group members.

Long-term: Digital gifting removes one of the last reasons to buy a physical cartridge or eShop card as a present for a family member.

Who is affected: Owners of Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 consoles, families who share a Nintendo Account family group, parents managing supervised accounts, and retailers who sell eShop cards.

What to watch next: The Nintendo eShop update on 16 or 17 November 2026 that turns the gifting feature on.

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