Tencent’s Nintendo Switch Cartridges Are Only Playable In China

Tencent recently partnered with Nintendo to officially launch the Nintendo Switch in China in December 2019. At launch, the only Switch games approved for sale were New Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario Odyssey. However, it turns out that these titles were only made playable in China alone.

Games industry analyst Daniel Ahmad recently revealed on his Twitter account that game cartridges on the official Tencent version of the Nintendo Switch would only work exclusively on the Chinese consoles.

PSA for Nintendo Switch owners:

Game cartridges released for the Tencent Nintendo Switch will not work on global Nintendo Switch consoles.

For example, NSMBU Deluxe will be published on Jan 15th by Tencent in China. This cartridge will ONLY work on the Tencent Nintendo Switch. pic.twitter.com/66v7kvN7pI

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) January 7, 2020

However, those who own the Tencent version of the Nintendo Switch can still use cartridges from outside of China. It’s just that they won’t be able to connect to any online features, especially since the Chinese eShop is region-locked as well.

This whole thing becomes an issue for China-exclusive games like Rabbids Adventure Party. Those living outside of China with non-Tencent consoles won’t be able to purchase or play the game at all, which is quite strange. That means the market for these games will be very limited.