You Can Now Add Nintendo Account Members To Your Family Group
When Nintendo lifted the curtain on the Nintendo Switch Online service last week, they mentioned that soon people would be able to form family groups on their Nintendo Accounts. That time is now, as the Nintendo Account site now allows you to invite others into your family group.
Nintendo Switch Online paid subscription service starts this September. It will cost $19.99 for a year for a single account, or you can spend $34.99 for a family account, which supports up to 8 different users. Theoretically you could band together with friends or family and make the cost of the service cheaper per person. If you have 8 total people chipping in the money it would only cost each person about $4.50 a year!
To add another person to your family group they must already have a Nintendo Account. You simply put in their e-mail address and they’ll get the invite and once they click the link they’ll be added to your family group. You cannot invite someone who is already a member of a different family group.
At this point in time we don’t know of any other restrictions or strange policies that might impact users in a family group. For example, some services from other companies won’t let you join another group for a specified time after joining one group – so you may want to be sure you want to do this before committing. It might be wise to just hold off on this step until September gets closer to make sure there’s no strings attached.
What is a Nintendo Account Family Group?
A Nintendo Account family group allows up to 8 Nintendo Account users to connect together into one group.
Family groups can include:
- One admin account to manage the group
- General Nintendo Accounts
- Supervised Nintendo Accounts (usually for children aged 12 and under)
- Parent / guardian accounts to manage Nintendo eShop restrictions for supervised accounts in the group. (Other types of parental controls can be managed on-device and/or via smart device app.)
Note that My Nintendo activity (missions, My Nintendo points, etc) is not shared between members of a family group. My Nintendo points can only be viewed and redeemed by the member that earned the points.
For information about the different roles in a family group, please click here.
What are the different roles in a Nintendo Account Family Group?
Are My Nintendo points shared between members of a family group?
No. My Nintendo activity (missions, My Nintendo points, etc) is not shared between members of a family group. My Nintendo points can only be viewed and redeemed by the member that earned the points.
What is an account for a child?
An account for a child is a Nintendo Account that allows users under 13 (and up to 17) years of age to use the Nintendo Account services. An account for a child can be created and managed through a parent or guardian’s account.
An account for a child allows the user to access various services through My Nintendo, receive a birthday discount, purchase software from the official Nintendo website (where available), and other benefits. For more details about services you can use with a Nintendo Account, please click here.
For an introduction to accounts for children, please click here.
Nintendo Accounts for children are automatically added as a supervised account to the parent / guardian’s family group.For information on how to create an account for a child, please click here.
Parental controls for off-device and Nintendo Switch eShop purchases (for both child and supervised accounts) can be set through the parent / guardian’s Nintendo Account.
Parental controls for Nintendo eShop purchases on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS family systems can be set on the system(s) to restrict purchases.
What is the difference between a Nintendo Account and a Nintendo Account for a child?
Nintendo Accounts and Nintendo Accounts for children are different in the following ways:
- An e-mail address cannot be registered to an account for a child. Any e-mail notifications are sent to the e-mail account registered within the parent/guardian’s Nintendo Account.
- Nintendo Accounts for children can be created for users age 0 through 17. Nintendo Accounts can only be created by users age 13 and older who have an e-mail account.
- Nintendo Accounts for children can be linked to a Nintendo Network ID only. They cannot be linked to social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Google+).
- All Nintendo Accounts created for children aged 12 and under are automatically set up as a supervised account in the Nintendo Account family group.
Other than these points, they function almost identically.
What is a supervised account?
Nintendo Accounts in a family group can be set as supervised accounts within the group. The parent / guardian accounts in the family group can restrict Nintendo eShop purchases for any supervised accounts. Parent / guardian accounts can also manage Nintendo Account settings for supervised accounts for children (aged 12 and under).
For information about different family group roles, click here.
For help setting a supervised account, click here.
How many accounts can be included in a family group?
A family group can include up to 8 Nintendo Accounts. Family groups can include a mixture of general accounts, parent / guardian accounts, and supervised accounts (usually Nintendo Accounts for children aged 12 and under).
For additional information, click here.
Can an existing Nintendo Account be converted into a supervised account?
Yes. Nintendo Accounts in the family group can be set as a supervised account by any parent / guardian account within the group. For information about setting a supervised account, click here.
Craig has been covering the video game industry since 1995. His work has been published across a wide spectrum of media sites. He’s currently the Editor-In-Chief of Nintendo Times and contributes to Gaming Age.
