While the Nintendo Switch has achieved success thanks to physical media blockbusters like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the system's digital games marketplace is still finding its legs.
Case in point: The Nintendo eShop has just now launched support for PayPal accounts, allowing purchases to be made directly on the portable console with the widely used online payment service.
At launch, purchases made on the Switch required manually inputting credit card info with each and every eShop purchase.
In May, Nintendo added the option to save credit card information directly to the Switch. This was a step in the right direction, but still limited users to buying gift cards at brick-and-mortar stores if they weren't comfortable leaving credit card details on their gaming device.
Now with PayPal, players can download gems like Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, Cave Story+ and Snipperclips to their Switch without the worry of keeping a card on file — not to mention speeding up the checkout process.
FundFriend
In addition to those who just prefer PayPal, parents may also enjoy this new feature as they can make a fresh PayPal account for a child's Nintendo Account.
This way, guardians can add funds to the account from time to time, rather than worry about their kid maxing out their cards on Minecraft skins or a copy of every Pokemon game.
A secondary effect of Nintendo embracing PayPal is that, in a way, Wii U and 3DS owners can now also buy digital content for their devices without having to rely on credit cards.
While neither the Wii U nor 3DS can use PayPal on-device like the Switch, Nintendo's online eShop for web browsers does supports the new payment method for buying games for those devices.
It takes some rooting around to find, since you have to actually attempt a purchase on Nintendo's site before it gives you a chance to link your Nintendo Account to your PayPal, but we still applaud the internet-reluctant company for finally accepting a 21st-century means of payment for its games.
