DSiWare buys are non-transferrable

By Robert Purchese Published 30 September, 2009

A second or a new DSi starts afresh.

Nintendo has explained to Eurogamer that DSiWare purchases cannot be transferred to additional DSi machines, meaning any games or applications are locked to whichever system they're bought on.

The explanation comes as Nintendo prepares three new DSi colours for Europe: Metallic Blue, Light Blue and Red. They arrive on 23rd October, pre-installed with Facebook and Flipnote Studio.

Nevertheless, Nintendo is prepare to transfer DSiWare downloads should your DSi break and you send it in for repair or replacement. That is the only way.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (37) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Toothball #1 2 years ago

    Not surprising. The don't seem to have a way to transfer Wii content either, which was a pain when my Wii was stolen with a whole bunch of downloads on it. I don't intend to download anything on the service again.

  • mingster #2 2 years ago

    It really is an issue with the whole downloadable content situation for all platforms.

    It should always be locked to your Username/Account not tied to the Hardware.

    That way you can use it on a new PC/PS3/DS whatever...

  • giant_frying_pan #3 2 years ago

    Pretty poor customer service.

    You *can* get your Wii content transferred after a repair or fault, but it's an arduous and manual process I understand.

  • Golgo #4 2 years ago

    Nintendo truly are becoming more and more retarded, aren't they? I wouldn't be surprised if the Wii 2 required you to pay again for all your Wii downloads. Someone point them in the direction of Steam, FFS.

  • speedjack #5 2 years ago

    WTF?!!!

    Digital content ownership should be bound to a person - not a device. If you cannot implement that then you should be banned from running a digital content distribution platform. Period.

    Even Apple allowed you to transfer your DRM encoded mp3s across a limited number of ipods.

    Edited by 1 at 30/09/09 @ 15:51

  • Shadders #6 2 years ago

    My DSi has broken, I take it this means I've lost all my downloads?

    RUBBISH!

  • Eraysor #7 2 years ago

    Just another example of Nintendo's uselessness at providing online services.

  • jonsaan #8 2 years ago

    That is really stupid and draconian.

    You wouldn't mind so much if the stuff was priced well in the first place.
    Edited by 1 at 30/09/09 @ 16:12

  • Stuz359 #9 2 years ago

    A draconian measure. I agree with other posters that content should be fixed to a username, gamertag etc, rather than a single device. Another reason I am against Digital Distribution for consoles. If I buy a normal physical copy of a DS game, I can play it on another DS. It is my game, I own it, as long as I don't break the law I should be able to play it when I want and where I want to.

  • Eoin #10 2 years ago

    It really is an issue with the whole downloadable content situation for all platforms.

    It should always be locked to your Username/Account not tied to the Hardware.

    That way you can use it on a new PC/PS3/DS whatever...

    Not really for "all" platforms. On the PS3 you can log into another PS3 and happily re-download all of the things that you've bought. With the 360 it's a tiny bit more complicated, but Microsoft do at the very least offer a license transfer service which accomplishes effective the same thing. It's the same for Steam.

    Although transferring purchases between machines isn't exactly perfect on the other consoles, it's possible - the idea of content which is totally non-transferable except in the case of a repair is exclusive to Nintendo.

  • VicViper #11 2 years ago

    @Stuz

    You would think that would make sense but there isn't really a single over reaching account when dealing with the nintendo consoles, look at the Wii and the friend code nonsence. Well if nothing else there hasn't been any brillant DSi ware worth buying so far.

  • JohnnyWashnGo #12 2 years ago

    Just another reason why I find DLC such an affront to both my personal liberties and my video game collection.

    DLC looks shit on my game shelf. Its just an empty plank of wood which makes me look like a madman when friends visit and I point to the empty space where games should be and say 'Look at my ace collection of video games' :(

    The more that manufacturers do this kind of thing, the more clever hackers will find ways around it.

  • lavalant #13 2 years ago

    Well.....you're either being screwed or doing the screwing, I prefer to do the screwing and pirate them games.

    I'm just a good capitalist I guess :)

  • speedjack #14 2 years ago

    Hi Lord,

    I saw that but my comments still stand. You should be able to own more of one device to play the media you bought.

    Anything man-made breaks down at some point... be it DSi's or Nuclear Power Stations.

  • Royal Fool #15 2 years ago

    Oh Nintendo, don't you ever change!

  • rock27gr #16 2 years ago

    @ lord

    The unfortunate thing is for people that don't live in any of the supported countries and are not supposed to be able to buy said content; if my Wii goes, then I doupt the Distributor here will have the means or even care about my DLC.

  • dingo75 #17 2 years ago

    + all the DSis that get stolen / are lost will also make you re-buy the game you like!

    /pats his M3DS Real card

  • Toothball #18 2 years ago

    @Eoin:

    With Xbox downloads you also have the option to play anything you own on any console as long as you're logged into Live, which is an option I would be content to live with if Nintendo had something similar.

  • photoboy #19 2 years ago

    Once again the consumer is being shafted by DRM. If someone wants to buy a new DSi in a new colour, why can't they take their purchases with them? Once upon a time I was excited by the prospect of being able to download games directly to my console, but the reality is a greedy system that takes away your right to own the software you've paid for.

    Makes me long for the days of cartridges, they'll still all be working in 100 years most likely. Try getting a modern DRM'ed game to work in 100 years when the authentication servers are long gone...

  • bad09 #20 2 years ago

    "ownership" the curse of DD and what holds industries back as they wonder "why do people hack their hardware and resort to piracy?". Is is so hard to get into their skulls we want to OWN what we buy, which means doing what we want with it.


    Ironically of the three only "consumer unfriendly" Sony have really met us half way. Download on up to five machines is a fair enough alternative to DRM free (something I seriously doubt we will EVER see on games).

  • Paulie_P #21 2 years ago

    @Golgo

    No they've always been and will always be retarded. I've bought every Nintendo system from the NES and love their games but I feel like they're constantly shafting me.

  • monkeylite #22 2 years ago

    Wow, and people moaned about Sony (which allows re-downloads on different PSPs). This is really awful. Bad move there Nintendo.

  • Retroid #23 2 years ago

    This is just bloody poor but, sadly, no surprise.

    As has already been mentioned the Wii already does DRM this way and it pisses me off no end that if I flogged my Wii and bought another I couldn't just reload my profile (as on the PS3 & 360, not to mention Steam) and get all my games back.

    Nintendo have by far the crappest attitude to DRM and content ownership of any platform holder this generation.

    (And that's before we even touch upon Friend Codes and the like)
    Edited by 1 at 30/09/09 @ 18:56

  • arn #24 2 years ago

    I don't understand why Nintendo is doing this. I have my Club Nintendo Membership, where i can see a list of all the games i have downloaded on WII, and probably also all the DSIware games to if I had some. So how difficult would it be for Nintendo, if I registered a new system to my account, to allow me to transfer downloadable content from one to another. Of course, a limit up to 5 systems, where I could deregister a system if I am not using it any more, would be fine enough.
    I know, Nintendo would lose some customers from household with 2 or more kids, each owning a DSI, but hey.. come on. The way it is now is just silly and make Nintendo look very greedy.
    Edited by 1 at 30/09/09 @ 19:35

  • Cappy #25 2 years ago

    What about some point in the future when your Wii or DSi is out of warranty?

    Basically they can force you to use their service for a repair because they're holding all your DLC as hostage. At some point a cheap second hand replacement unit will be cheaper than the repair and you'll forced to make a difficult choice, how much is that DLC worth to you? Do you care if you can't use it anymore?

  • Skurmedel #26 2 years ago

    That is pretty shite, wouldn't buy many if I had one if I can loose them that easily...

    Although it enrages me greatly when I'm offline and I can't play Geometry Wars 2 for some reason, even though I should be able to, so MS has something to work on as well. And Steam doesn't work too well offline as well sometimes.
    Edited by 1 at 01/10/09 @ 00:20

  • cobaltfram #27 2 years ago

    A very Sony move from Nintendo.

  • Xinch #28 2 years ago

    Comment well below viewing threshold

    Wow. So many people using the word "draconian". Thanks EverAfter.

    If it comes to it, I guess your Wii would have to "break" then wouldn't it.
    Repair man - "Hey, this looks kinda like a heel mark here, we've been seeing a lot of this lately."

  • SG #29 2 years ago

    Meh, softmods all the way - GBATemp always work around these things.

  • kestral #30 2 years ago

    With an iPod touch you can share your purchases with up to 4 others and all the apps videos music etc that you bought will appear on your familys devices. handy!

  • Toothball #31 2 years ago

    @<a href ="http://www.eurogamer.net/arti cles/dsiware-buys-are-non-transferrable#comment1300039&q uot;>Skurmedel</a>:

    Did you get a new Xbox at all? You can move all your content to another Xbox once a year with this link: [link url=http://www.xbo x.com/en-GB/support/drm/
    ]http://www.xbo x.com/en-GB/support/drm/
    [/link]

    If your Xbox breaks and you get them to repair it, they usually transfer it automatically.

  • Skurmedel #32 2 years ago

    Toothball, hehe I think you misunderstood me. What I meant is slightly off topic, I meant that when I'm not logged in to live sometimes for whatever reasons, I can't access my Arcade Games, and it makes me really pissed. I think you should be able to...

    Not that it's worse than what this story is about, just pointing out that I think they all could be much better. But hey, +1 for handy link.
    Edited by 2 at 01/10/09 @ 10:12

  • chrisjm #33 2 years ago

    and once they stop repairing them?
    im sure people here still sometimes dig out their NES, do nintendo repair them now? at least you still have your games if you have to get a replacement on ebay.

  • Rubarack #34 2 years ago

    Inevitably when they release the DSii you'll have no recourse to the content then.

  • Toothball #35 2 years ago

    @<a href ="http://www.eurogamer.net/arti cles/dsiware-buys-are-non-transferrable#comment1300243&q uot;>Skurmedel</a>:

    You should always be able to play any downloads on the Xbox you download them on originally regardless of whether you're online or not. Also, any other profiles on that Xbox should be able to play as well. As you can't it sounds like you're using more than one Xbox. If you do have more than one Xbox then there's not much you can do. But if you've bought a new one and traded in the old for example, that DRM tool will transfer all your licenses to your new Xbox.

    Be aware though, the process essentially involves going through your download history and downloading everything again. It doesn't need to download the actual files so each one is quite quick, but you need to go through all of them which can take a while.

  • Skurmedel #36 2 years ago

    Well I only have one, but one got replaced after an early demise. Maybe I should try that one.. I need to login to XBL everytime as it is now and it's really annoying. Thanks for the help.

  • VMerken #37 2 years ago

    Should I use the power of music to summarise this article? Because you know, money, money, money, it's so funny...

    Don't think for a second the industry will follow silly ethical rules such as allowing you to use your virtual software multiple times without paying multiple times.
    Edited by 1 at 01/10/09 @ 19:07