Many game companies are giving away games for free, but a recent batch of free Nintendo Switch games is looking like it might be a mix-up on the Nintendo eShop. Several big-budget games — including Bayonetta 2 and one relatively recent release — appear to have been erroneously priced at zero dollars.
A Reddit submission notes that the price of three games has changed to $0.00 very recently, effectively making these popular Nintendo Switch titles available completely for free. A comment in the same thread notes that a fourth title is also available, and boy is it a surprising pick.
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What are the four free Nintendo Switch games?
- Bayonetta on the Nintendo eShop
- Bayonetta 2 on the Nintendo eShop
- Cadence of Hyrule on the Nintendo eShop
- Pokemon Shield on the Nintendo eShop
This would truly be a stellar giveaway if it were genuine. Prepare to be disappointed, though; this is increasingly looking like it may be a mistake.
The good news is that several people on Reddit have reported successfully completing their orders and receiving a confirmation email. And that’s about where the good news ends and the bad news begins. The lucky few people who have actually completed their offers have not yet received any download codes.
Anyone else who’s late to the party has encountered a myriad of problems trying to actually get these games. One user reports a 500 Internal Server error, meaning that the website effectively died out temporarily. Others have stated that they’ve tried to add the game to their cart and subsequently saw the website refresh without actually adding the game.
It’s possible that some or all of these free Nintendo Switch games may be a genuine giveaway from Nintendo. However, the strange inclusion of Pokemon Shield (and yet no Pokemon Sword) makes me wonder if this wasn’t a mistake. Add on the fact that these orders don’t appear to be going through anymore and it looks like someone at Nintendo might have messed up.
