The Nintendo eShop is notoriously full of shovel ware, money-grabs, and porn games — but the recent disappearance of many adult-oriented titles suggests Nintendo might finally be taking more steps towards moderating the shop. X user Naruki, known for tracking trends across the eShop, first spotted the change.
Despite its family-friendly image, the Nintendo eShop has long been plagued with a frankly astounding amount of NSFW titles. Since the majority of eShop operations are handled by an algorithm, these titles often appear as a great deal or a new release. Even though most are age-gated, the thumbnails are still provocative enough that it raises concern among parents.
Unfortunately, this particular problem isn’t new. The Wii eShop was also flooded with shovel ware and low-quality titles. What makes the same issue in the Nintendo Switch eShop so egregious boils down to marketing; by releasing a new “edition” of the games — and a quick look will show numerous titles with “Special,” “Ultimate,” “Epic,” and other superlatives tacked onto the front — the game is pushed back up the charts. It’s an exploitative play to earn more money from low-effort software.
The publisher RedDeer.Games is responsible for a large number of this style of game, publishing titles like Hentai Girls, Hot & Hentai, and numerous others. However, the studio is also responsible for games better suited for families or younger gamers. At the time of writing, several of its titles (SFW and not) were discounted as much as 96% — a clear push for visibility, but one that doesn’t serve players.
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It isn’t clear whether RedDeer.Games pulled the titles themselves or if Nintendo took action, but it’s worth noting that many of the studio’s SFW titles still offer a ludicrous number of superlative variants.
The timing of these game’s removal is suspect. The Nintendo Switch 2 is just around the corner; if Nintendo is behind the improved moderation, it could mean promising changes are coming to the Nintendo Switch 2 eShop. However, it also raises the question: why would Nintendo wait so long to address an issue that has lingered for multiple console generations?