Setting the Region of Your Switch
If you’re familiar with console gaming, you may have heard of the practice of “Region Locking”, which is a form of DRM that prevents media from one region of the world from working on devices from another. There are several reasons for region locking. Sometimes, it’s done as a form of censorship, to prevent media that’s considered distasteful in one area from being available in another. Other times, it’s done for business reasons - if a game is being sold for $60 on one continent and $40 on another, region locking discourages third parties from buying the $40 copies and reselling them for $50.
For gamers, region locking has long been a nuisance- there are many legitimate reasons to want to play a game from another region; perhaps a foreign edition of a game has features that weren’t included in their localized version of the game, or perhaps they purchased their console in a region where games don’t come with support for their mother tongue.
On the Nintendo Switch, region locking is a thing of the past. Nintendo’s latest console is not region-locked, meaning games from around the world can be played in any region. However, to play games from other regions on your Switch, it is necessary to change your region. This can be done without warranty-voiding hardware modification or sketchy software hacks.
Step One
From the Switch’s main menu, go to Settings.
Step Two
Scroll down to the bottom of the settings menu and select System.
Step Three
From the system, choose Region and select your preferred region; it will then be necessary to accept a new EULA, and your console will then need to restart. When it boots back up, it’ll run games from the region you’ve chosen. Using that region’s eShop will require a new user profile and eShop account that’s registered in said region.
And that’s all there is to it - changing regions on your Switch is fast, easy, and safe.
