Oversight over the Saudi Arabia market has been transferred internally from Nintendo Co Ltd (NCL, Japan headquarters) to Nintendo of Europe (NOE) in the second half of 2023, NintendoSoup has learned. We understand that this is the first time oversight of a market has been transferred from one Nintendo entity to another in Nintendo history.

As part of the transfer, AIC Trading has taken over official distribution responsibilities in Saudi Arabia, and is distributing hardware and software supplied by NOE in the Saudi market. AIC Trading is also operating an official website, Facebook, X, and YouTube accounts for the market.

Prior to 2023, Saudi Arabia was a market overseen by NCL. Markets in the Middle East, with the exception of the Israeli market, have always been part of NCL territory. This is despite the fact that traditionally since the days of the NES, the Saudi market has been parallel importing PAL versions of video game hardware and software from Europe.

In the early 2010s, NCL made Active Boeki the official distributor of Nintendo products in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and distributed products in those markets through local resellers Shas Samurai and Active Gulf respectively. While Active Gulf continues to officially distribute in the UAE and Oman, Shas Samurai has ceased to distribute in Saudi Arabia, according to the customer service sheet provided in UAE copies of first party Nintendo games launched in 2024. Its X account was last active in August 2023.

There are major implications for those living in Saudi Arabia now that NOE has taken over the market. Unlike NCL, NOE has been very proactive in providing official services to customers in territories outside of Europe, such as South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel. When NOE started working with TorGaming to distribute Nintendo Switch products in Israel, NOE found a way to officially offer Nintendo Switch Online and download codes of digital games to customers living in Israel via TorGaming’s Nintendo Israel website. While there is an Israeli Nintendo eShop, it is limited as it only offers the option to redeem download codes purchased through TorGaming.

This means that NOE is very likely to extend official services to customers in Saudi Arabia in the future. At the very least, we are expecting Nintendo Switch Online and download codes of digital games to be offered via the new distributor in Saudi Arabia, along with a limited Saudi Arabia Nintendo eShop (similar to the limited Nintendo eShop in Israel) that allows users to redeem digital content. Given that the successor to Nintendo Switch is expected to launch in March 2025, it is possible that such official services would only be offered starting from the new system, but having NOE take care of the underserved market bodes well for the future of Nintendo in Saudi Arabia.

What does the transfer of Saudi Arabia to NOE mean for the future of Nintendo in the Middle East? Currently, NOE is taking care of Israel and Saudi Arabia, while the rest of Middle East, including the officially recognized markets of UAE and Oman, remain under NCL’s domain. It is possible that NCL will continue to retain other markets in the Middle East or eventually transfer them to NOE, but we will keep a close eye on developments.

Given NCL’s lackluster official support (Nintendo Switch Online, Nintendo eShop) for markets such as Taiwan and Singapore, the Middle East could possibly look like a region with varying levels of Nintendo support, assuming NCL continues to hold onto the rest of the Middle East. A situation where NOE markets in the Middle East have official access to Nintendo Switch Online and Nintendo eShop, and NCL markets there having zero access to them, is a possible situation that could unfold over the years.

Special thanks to Assad for the heads up.