Switch 2 owners discover Nintendo can remove games from your console at any time

An unlucky Switch 2 owner had their copy of Mario Kart World removed from their console, but they were able to get it back.

One of the main criticisms against digitally downloaded video games is that you don’t really own them. Your purchase really only gives you a licence to play the game and it’s one companies can quite easily take back if they want to.

This isn’t a hypothetical either. Sony deleted TV content PlayStation owners had paid for just a couple of years ago and though he was referring to subscription services, Ubisoft’s senior director of subscriptions Philippe Tremblay once said people need to get comfortable with the idea of not owning their games.

One Nintendo Switch 2 owner was recently reminded of this when they had to swap their console for a new one, only to find their copy of Mario Kart World gone and seemingly removed from their account altogether.

Over the weekend, Redditor GreatGreg2 took to the NintendoSwitchHelp subreddit to explain how they had bought the Switch 2 bundle that included a digital download code for Mario Kart World.

Unfortunately, the console broke so they had to get a replacement, as well as deregister their account from the broken console. While they were able to access all the other games linked to their account on the new Switch 2, Mario Kart World suddenly vanished.

Its icon on the home menu was still there, but the game couldn’t be accessed, and its virtual game card had disappeared from the virtual game card tab. When they tried redownloading it through the eShop itself, they were prompted to buy a new copy.

According to another Redditor, Maladroitz, Nintendo has been revoking bundled games since the Switch 1. In their case, they returned a Switch OLED that included Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and lost access to the game on their Switch 2.

That makes sense, though, since this is to avoid instances of people buying bundles just to download the game to their account and then claim a refund. If you did that, you wouldn’t just be getting money back on the console, but you’d be keeping the game as well.

But GreatGreg2 didn’t return their bundle; their console broke and they had to get a replacement. So, why did Nintendo revoke their copy of Mario Kart World? Well, it turns out it didn’t.

How to redownload a bundled game on Nintendo Switch 2

Bundled games are still tied to your Nintendo account and can be redownloaded in the event you ever lose them. Nintendo does explain this process for redownloading bundled games on its support website, although it’s pretty well hidden.

After confirming they had recovered the game, GreatGreg2 shared a conversation they had with Cartercrobertcrook, who explained that there is a ‘Products Bundled With This System’ section on the eShop specifically for redownloading bundled games.

You can access this in your eShop profile settings, although when we went to check for ourselves, we couldn’t find it, despite using a Switch 2 with a bundled copy of Mario Kart World installed.

We did a bit more digging and according to a Matcha_Foxx, in an older Reddit thread, it sounds like this option won’t appear if a bundled game is already installed on the console.

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