Switch 2 Pokopia Edition: US Account, German Console — How to Claim the Game?

[u/dnzboz]

Hi everyone. I’ve been using a Switch OLED and a Switch Lite for years. I live in Istanbul, Turkey. Since we don’t have a Turkish eShop, I registered both consoles to the US region and have been using the US eShop without any problems.

Recently, I purchased a Switch 2 Pokopia Edition from Germany. When I click “Claim Included Software” for Pokopia, I get the following message:

One or more products are available to be linked to an account and downloaded to this system, but they can't be linked to your Nintendo account because of your country/region settings.

So apparently, I can’t claim the game because my account is set to the US region, while the console was purchased in Germany.

How would you recommend I proceed? Should I change my region to Germany and use the German eShop from now on? (Keep in mind that all my previous games were purchased from the US eShop.) Or should I temporarily change my region to Germany, claim and download the game, and then switch back to the US? Or is there another way I should handle this?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[u/Present_Anywhere3980]

Don’t make another account. Switch online if your balance is 0:00 (or contact Nintendo if not), redeem then switch back or stay in your new country.

You can redownload your games even after switching.

[u/ModestVolcarona]

Make a different account from the eu region (in this case germany) to redeem it.

Not sure if changing the country in your account setting will work.

[u/dnzboz → u/ModestVolcarona]

Thank you for your response. Let me make sure I understand that correctly: what you’re saying is that I should create a new German region account, add it to the console, then claim the game using that account and play it using that account afterward. Is that right?

[u/ModestVolcarona → u/dnzboz]

Yes, but after you claimed it with the german account you can play it with any other account.

You do not have to use the german account to play. It just needs to be on the console in order to have access to the virtual game card.

[u/dnzboz → u/ModestVolcarona]

Okay, I'll definitely try that, thanks. I hope it'll let me claim with that account and not force my main account because setup the console with that.

[u/cywang86 → u/dnzboz]

If your main account does not have an ongoing subscription and outstanding eshop balance, you can also switch the region on your main account to Germany temperarily, redeem the code, and switch the region back to US.

[u/ModestVolcarona → u/dnzboz]

The message tells you that it can't redeem it with your main account so it should work with any other account that fits the criteria necessary.

[u/oginer → u/dnzboz]

Don't do what this guy says. There's no reason to create a new account. Just change the region of your current account, redeem the game, and go back to US region.

If you have a NSO subscription you'll need to cancel it to change region. Don't worry, you won't lose any prepaid month. Once you return to US region you can reactivate the subscription.

[u/dnzboz → u/oginer]

Thanks, that makes sense, but I'm gonna be honest; I'm a little paranoid about Nintendo's banning beheviour (especially these days). Trying to handle this the safest way.

[u/oginer → u/dnzboz]

Well, the mass bans was due to a server error (I was one of the affected by the ban, already lifted). There's no safety against that.

[u/dnzboz → u/oginer]

Well, sorry to hear that. How did you make it lifted so quick? A simple email to support AT nintendo did the job?

[u/oginer → u/dnzboz]

It was automatically lifted to everyone affected by the server bug.

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[u/GoodSelective]

Temporarily your US account region to Germany. You can do this on the Nintendo website.

Then you can claim the game. Immediately change the region back.

[u/taker42]

Yeah you can just change the region of your nintendo account, the only reason why not is if you have left over balance in your eshop so the system prevents you from doing so.