Update (12/25/21) – Nintendo has confirmed that “all servers are operating normally” after outages were experienced by many Switch users over the Christmas weekend.
The original story follows.
While it may be the most wonderful time of the year for some, the servers at Nintendo are having some troubles as Christmas Day has, once again, brought with it a wave of new and old Switch consoles trying to purchase new games and play online.
Some of those who have unwrapped a brand-new Switch for the Holidays are being greeted by an error message from Nintendo when trying to purchase a game, browse the eShop, or even redeem a gift card.
“We are currently experiencing difficulties with our network services,” Nintendo’s Network Maintenance Information / Operational Status page says. “Please try again later. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”
This outage appears to not only be impacting those using a Nintendo Switch, but also those still playing Wii U or 3DS.
Earlier this week, Nintendo warned that it was expecting its servers to be overloaded over the Christmas weekend, and encouraged those who were purchasing a Switch for a loved one to set it up in advance – which is always good advice for any new console.
However, Nintendo’s warning only mentioned Nintendo Account creation and didn’t mention purchasing games or otherwise. This issue is not a new one, as a similar outage affected many around the world during last year’s Christmas weekend.