Nintendo Switch 2 will mark a new era for Asian markets such as Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines, as Nintendo plans to officially launch both online services, such as Nintendo eShop and Nintendo Switch Online, in these regions for the first time.

However, it’s important to note that these online services are unlikely to be available in these five markets at launch.

According to the Taiwanese Nintendo subsidiary’s official press release, both online services are scheduled to launch in 2025, and details on the launch timing will be provided at a later date. As for the four Southeast Asian countries, Nintendo is even more vague – no launch window was promised aside from the statement “we are working to launch Nintendo eShop and Nintendo Switch Online.”

Given that Nintendo is very careful with how they word their statements, we can certainly expect that Taiwan will get both Nintendo eShop and Nintendo Switch Online sometime before the end of 2025, and there’s also a decent chance that the launch of these online services will slip to 2026 and beyond in Southeast Asia.

It’s also worth keeping in mind that Nintendo has yet to announce the official launch date for Nintendo Switch 2 in Taiwan and the Southeast Asian markets – we only know that it’s scheduled to release sometime in Q3 2025 (July – September).

Earlier this month, we learned the Nintendo Switch 2 Experience Taipei event in Taiwan will be held from July 5 to July 6, 2025. Given that the system’s release date wasn’t announced at the same time, this indicates that it’ll be some time before the official launch as things are still in flux.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.