Nintendo eShop purchases will be tied to your account rather than the Switch

We're about two weeks away from the Nintendo Switch, but it's suddenly become quite a bit easier to learn about some of the hardware's basics. An unnamed retailer accidentally shipped some Switch units two weeks early, with one of them arriving in the hands of a NeoGAF user, who released a video showing off the setup. While that's news enough on its own, YouTube user FloKO also received a Nintendo Switch system early. In the unboxing video that was uploaded last night, we get some interesting information about Nintendo Accounts.

While Nintendo is certainly working to try and improve online services this time around by joining Microsoft and Sony with paid online, one major feature that's held 3DS and Wii U systems back is Nintendo's preference to lock eShop content to a specific console. As we can see in the Switch unboxing video below, that's changing with the Switch. Purchases on the eShop will now be tied directly to your Nintendo Account rather than a specific piece of hardware. If you ever have to buy a new Switch because your old one stops working, you won't have to worry about losing all your games or DLC.

Switching up this policy is a step in the right direction for Nintendo. We don't know just yet if this policy will apply only to the Switch, or if the account-based purchase system will be adopted for the 3DS as well since the handheld isn't being replaced. The Nintendo Switch will be available worldwide in just two weeks as retailers shuffle their Nintendo displays for the March 3 global launch.