Nintendo "Winding Down" Their Club Nintendo Program

Yesterday, Nintendo made the announcement on their site that they would be discontinuing Club Nintendo, an incentive program introduced by Nintendo in 2007 to reward its customers with the option to redeem points, or coins, for various gifts. These exclusive offerings extended past games themselves, with Nintendo offering everything from limited edition controllers, to soundtracks from your favorite games. Certainly, it was an interesting program from Nintendo, one that really helped you feel better about your choice to purchase a Nintendo product or game. However, for reasons unknown, Nintendo feels that it's time to "wind down" Club Nintendo in favor of a new program that they have given no details on.

Nintendo informs us that all accounts will be closed, and with that, they’ll be deleting member’s coins on the first of July. That’s not all Nintendo has planned, however. Starting in February, Nintendo will be adding “dozens of downloadable games and a limited quantity of exclusive reward items to the rewards catalog”, as well as giving all Club Members a free download code for Flipnote Studio 3D. Nintendo will also be giving members who’ve earned Elite Status a free download for either a 3DS or Wii U game. In order to obtain the elite status, you must have earned 300 to 600 coins from July 1, 2014 to the programs closing this March. The Schedule is as follows:

This is certainly an interesting move on Nintendo’s part, and makes you wonder what kind of program will be rising up to take the place of Club Nintendo. The slow and easy transition on Nintendo's part, however, is quite a smart move, in my opinion. By giving members an incentive to use any coins they have, they can make it easier for people to empty their accounts, and get awesome games in the process.

What do you think about Nintendo's choice to shut down Club Nintendo? Will their new program be even better, or are they making a mistake. Comment with your opinion below.

Source

Thanks to Doodle210, since he suggested this topic in the first place.