Nintendo accounts are a great way to link your Nintendo Points for yourself even if you share Nintendo devices with other players. This ensures everyone has access to their own rewards while they use other online services such as the eShop. That's why you need to know how to merge Nintendo accounts.
Sometimes, you might create multiple Nintendo accounts because you forgot the password and wanted to play as fast as possible. But eventually, you might find that having multiple accounts with different purchases is inconvenient. You might have different games you want to play across accounts, or you assumed one account was lost forever but remembered how to get back into it.
Regardless of the reason, you want your accounts merged together for convenience. So here's what you need to know about how to merge Nintendo accounts.
How to merge Nintendo accounts explained
You cannot merge Nintendo accounts together, even if they are owned by the same person. Other tasks such as changing the primary Nintendo account of a console or merging a Nintendo account with a Nintendo Network ID are possible. But putting multiple accounts under one name and consolidating all the information cannot be done at this time.
If you have multiple Nintendo accounts across multiple devices, now is the time to start deciding which account you want to be your primary account. The rest should either be saved in the event of an emergency or just in case a problem arises with the primary account. The inability to merge accounts means that your purchases, cloud saves, and other features linked to accounts will remain separate.
This is not the same as having a primary console and a non-primary console, in case your account is being used with other Nintendo Switch consoles. All you must do in that case is decide on the Nintendo Switch that will be your primary console, and go through the process.
You also cannot merge other non-primary accounts together. If you reach the maximum number of accounts on a Nintendo Switch console, another account must leave before any new accounts can be added.
What can be done if you can’t merge Nintendo accounts?
Since merging Nintendo accounts isn’t possible, you must decide which account you are going to use going forward. The rest can be deleted or maintained in the event of an emergency. Don’t make any other purchases or My Nintendo Rewards claims since they won’t carry over to a main account.
If you haven’t done anything with the other accounts, you should delete the other Nintendo accounts, leaving a single primary account remaining. Make sure you aren’t removing any valuable games or DLC content before deleting the account, since you can’t get it back.
How to delete a Nintendo account
Go to the Settings of a Nintendo account and choose “Delete Account.” This will deactivate the account for four weeks. During that time, you can reactivate your account and halt the deletion process if you change your mind at any point.
You will not be able to use the account to go online with the Nintendo Switch, and your friends won’t be able to see you. Thankfully, the process will take four weeks for a full deletion, which gives you plenty of time to think about the account’s usefulness. If you haven’t remembered to stop the process after four weeks, the account was likely not useful to you.
Deleting an account will remove the following:
- My Nintendo rewards points, rewards, and mission statuses that you are working on.
- Any digital games or DLC that is associated with the Nintendo account.
- All cloud save data that is linked to the account.
- Any friend connections
Make sure it really is an account you are willing to let go, because you can’t get any of that content back. Even if you change your mind after four weeks, there is no way to retrieve said content.
Consolidate your Nintendo accounts on a primary console
Perhaps your problem is that you have the same account on multiple consoles, and are looking to merge them all together. There’s no need to do that; you can just set one Nintendo Switch as your primary console and delete everything else.
Deactivate your account’s current primary Nintendo Switch console through the Nintendo eShop. Connect to the eShop using the new primary Nintendo Switch to confirm its status as the new primary console. This won’t consolidate all your cloud save data across consoles, but you can still transfer your data manually.
Make sure other account users on the old primary console are aware of the changes, and that they won’t be able to access any games without an internet connection. This method also puts your account on a primary console, and doesn’t affect other accounts that you made.
If you need to transfer save data, you will need to transfer the data manually as cloud saves do not transfer when you change primary consoles.
Things to remember about merging Nintendo accounts
As troublesome as it is, there do not appear to be plans that allow you to merge accounts. You must make sure that you don’t make more Nintendo accounts, or you risk spreading your resources thinly. Deleting any accounts you aren’t using and have no value is highly recommended, since it reduces clutter.
Ensure that you have the details that allow you to access your primary Nintendo account, and don’t lose them. If you must keep other accounts active, make sure their details are also properly recorded. It is also best to remove these accounts from other consoles, since they will take up user space.
It’s a good time to ensure that any payments to Switch Online are properly turned off, unless you are using multiple accounts for different multiplayer options.