Nintendo Switch Online subscribers call for ban change

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Key takeaways

  • Some Nintendo Switch Online subscribers want to see the service loosen its profile icon restrictions.
  • Re-releases of NSO Profile Icons currently come with some fairly restrictive limitations, such as requiring players to own the games they are purchasing.
  • Icons from different games can also be combined when designing a custom profile picture.



something Nintendo Switch Online Members have recently taken to social media to call for changes to the way the service distributes profile icons, arguing that the current system is unnecessarily restrictive. Their frustrations stem largely from the somewhat convoluted way in which Nintendo Switch Online limits icon availability and usage.

Profile icons were originally added to Nintendo Switch Online in March 2022. Since then, members have been able to spend their Platinum Points on various imagery that can be used to customize their profiles. These digital goodies are added to the service on a monthly basis and are in constant rotation. In most cases, previously issued icons will not return to the NSO more than once a year.


Nintendo Switch Online members want profile icon restrictions lifted

But their availability is even more limited when this happens, as any images offered as part of these reruns require customers to own the games based on them before they can purchase them. That's not the only condition for buying them, as recently pointed out by Reddit user WhispyWhirl, who recently missed some Nintendo Switch online based on profile icons. Animal Crossing: New Horizons Because the service insists that they have to play the game three times in the last 30 days before they can receive it.


NSO Subscriber Label Profile Icon Ban 'Anti-Consumer'

As it turned out, this unusual requirement didn't actually state that they needed to boot the game three times, but play it on three separate days over a month-long period. When they finally managed to do so, the icons they wanted to buy with their hard-earned Platinum Points were out of rotation. “This is one of the worst systems I think the Switch has ever had,” the fan wrote, in addition to labeling it “totally anti-consumer.” WhispyWhirl's complaint garnered hundreds of upvotes and then appeared on the front page of the Biggest Switch subreddit in early October 2024, indicating that a vocal segment of NSO members shared their frustration.

Some participants in the ensuing discussion have used this as an opportunity to call for more freedom in how individual icon elements can be mixed and matched. According to these considerations, the inability to combine icons from different games is unnecessarily restrictive when designing a custom profile image.


This is one of the worst systems I think the Switch has ever had. It is completely anti-consumer.

The chances of Nintendo acting directly on these complaints are pretty slim, as the company has a longstanding reputation for doing its own thing, quirks and all. But that doesn't mean NSO won't see any changes in the near future, not least because the service could actually improve with the Switch successor. According to recent reports, the Nintendo Switch 2 could finally be revealed as early as October 2024.

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