Nintendo finally has a mobile storefront for Switch games.
The Nintendo Store app launched as a surprise on Tuesday night, available now on both iOS and Android. As one might expect from the name, it's simply a dedicated mobile app for tracking and purchasing games for the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 consoles. You can log into your Nintendo account, maintain a wishlist, check out sales, and more. This more or less puts Nintendo in line with PlayStation and Xbox, both of which have had full-featured mobile apps with digital storefronts for years.
Somewhat strangely, the only catch is that trying to purchase any game just brings you to the Nintendo store website in a built-in browser window, as opposed to including a custom purchase page within the app. While Nintendo hasn't offered app-based purchases before, you have been able to buy games from the website on a mobile browser for years. This app cuts out the middle-man of having to open Safari, I guess?
However, there is one pretty exciting feature in here: A comprehensive database of your play history in games on recent Nintendo consoles. If you log into your Nintendo account, you can not only see how many hours you've put into any given game, but you can actually see how long your individual play sessions were on a specific day of the calendar. This is how I learned that I apparently had a four-hour session of Xenoblade Chronicles X earlier this year. That's news you can use, folks.
Hopefully, the new Nintendo Store app will add more features in the future, including true in-app purchases.
