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Adept
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Yeah, I think everyone heard about recent news of Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Peru starting to block foreign access to their eShops. This action would devastate Turkish Switch owners as they're now left with only one accessible eShop region. And don't forget, Switch hardware sales has been pretty good in Turkey, beating many regions that actually have official eShops.
I'm gonna give you a timeline to make things clear.
And finally. Last week final eShops also started to block foreign access: the Latin American ones. Only eShop right now works in Turkish region is the Canadian one (and through debit cards, AU) but the as Turkish lira losing valure and Canadian dollar gaining, games getting more expensive each day. AND Canada has no region without a sales tax, unlike US. They take the tax without returning it afterwards. Turkey needs a eShop with regional pricing similar to Turkish Steam or PSN. And no physical or point cards force the owners to use the only available eShop.
Turkey is the only country that has Switch officially but never had its own eShop and this has to change. Distributor CD Media is still working towards it but so far no success.
A side note: Some countries block access from certain countries. Like I can buy stuff from US eShop with my French CC but not with my Turkish CC. UAE cards also work in US eShop. Similarly, after the eShop shut down, Russian Switch owners are still able to buy from EU regions. EU blocks Turkish access since the 3DS times.
I'm gonna give you a timeline to make things clear.
- In 2004, Nintendo officially returned Turkey after a 7 year long absence. In the meantime, Toys R Us unofficially imported GBC but not N64. Nortec, the new distributor of Nintendo is actually Greek company, Nintendo Greece's distributor since 1998.
- Wii released in Turkey in 2006 and went on to become best selling console ever in the country (thanks to the free piracy). At this time many countries in Europe didn't have their own WiiShop so Turkish Wii owners used UK region store like everyone else.
- DSi released and the trend of using UK as the region continued.
- When 3DS launched in 2011, eShop first appeared and many other countries received their own eShop stores. It still was possible for Turkish 3DS owners to purchase from UK Store.
- In 2012, Turkish access to eShop, PSN and Appstore got blocked. For eShop and PSN, all EU regions started to block Turkish credit cards. Only one region allowed purchases from Turkey: Australia for both in PSN and eShop.
- Same year Turkish PSN Store launched and all the other PSN store blocked Turkish access. But unfortunately, Nintendo of Europe rejected Nortec's request of launching a Turkish specific eShop. Citing the country is just too poor to have one. Recommended to continue using Australian eShop.
- Australian & NZ eShop started to block Turkish access. Nortec was pissed off, filed a complaint to open up Australian eShop for access again. NoE said no, they said too many people were abusing regional pricing, which is the lowest for first party software in AU.
- Around 2013- 2014 Turkish gamers started to import North American 3DSes. Canadian eShop allowed access but you could not switch to North American account on a EU 3DS due to region locking.
- Australian eShop allowed access once again but only to block again in 2016.
- Same year PayPal quit the Turkish market, bringing an end to buying point cards online. It still is impossible to buy eShop cards in Turkey.
- In 2016, Turkish and Greek distributor Nortec dissolved and CD Media (distributor of many 3rd party games in Turkey and Greece) took over the duties. Through Turkish branch, CD Media opened up Bulgarian distributor.
- In 2017 Switch has launched and along with it new eShop regions: Bulgaria, Romania, Thailand, Philippines. But still no Turkish eShop. This time CD Media requested a Turkish eShop from NoE they once again rejected. They pointed out that many eShops now allow foreign access. That didn't take long as whole EU region once again started to block Turkish access. Given reason for that was due to tax laws. Australian eShop was open for the third time, Turkish Switch owners hoped that's the charm.
- In 2019 NoE severely limited the physical game shipment to Turkey. Only select first party titles released in very limited amount. NoE suggested that Turkish Switch owners to use Australian eShop. Earlier the year only third party game distributor, Aral, filed for bankruptcy, effectively killing the physical market.
- In 2020, Latin American eShops were launched and they allowed foreign access! Argentina's and Colombia's inflation rates were very similar to Turkish, so for the first time ever Turkish Switch owners got to buy digital games priced relatively to their PSN counterparts. And unlike Canadian eShop, sales tax was returned after the purchase in these regions.
- In 2022, Australian eShop blocked access for the 3rd time, again citing abuse of regional pricing. AU still offered cheapest first party games. Some owners found out the recently launched over-the-counter debit cards in Turkey still worked but Turkish - Australian exchange rates were almost the double in this way.
And finally. Last week final eShops also started to block foreign access: the Latin American ones. Only eShop right now works in Turkish region is the Canadian one (and through debit cards, AU) but the as Turkish lira losing valure and Canadian dollar gaining, games getting more expensive each day. AND Canada has no region without a sales tax, unlike US. They take the tax without returning it afterwards. Turkey needs a eShop with regional pricing similar to Turkish Steam or PSN. And no physical or point cards force the owners to use the only available eShop.
Turkey is the only country that has Switch officially but never had its own eShop and this has to change. Distributor CD Media is still working towards it but so far no success.
A side note: Some countries block access from certain countries. Like I can buy stuff from US eShop with my French CC but not with my Turkish CC. UAE cards also work in US eShop. Similarly, after the eShop shut down, Russian Switch owners are still able to buy from EU regions. EU blocks Turkish access since the 3DS times.
