Nintendo Brings Contactless NFC Payments to Japan

Nintendo has recently made an announcement that the Wii U video game console will now be accepting Japanese payment cards through by way of NFC.

Wii U gamers can now tap their NFC-embedded cards against the Wii U’s gamepad for payments of digital goods and services. A Near Field Communication reader is built in the controller of the Wii U.

It will be the first time that Nintendo would make use of NFC to accept payments for downloadable games and subscription services. This software update is going to be very useful and it will let users move settings, apps and games. This would definitely contribute to the ease and convenience of the user since inputting payment details on a gamepad is particularly frustrating.

Japan is quite familiar with the concept of contactless payments. Letstalkpayments.com reports that there are more than one million NFC enabled payment terminals in Japan.

The enablement of NFC payments is likely to be successful and would be able to generate a more positive user experience. Nintendo isn’t the only major player expanding into NFC.

Similarly, this month, JCB announced it would be conducting testing on contactless payments in Taiwan, called J/Speedy. In Japan, JCB provides QUICPay, a contactless card and mobile wallet. Further improvements and expansions of NFC payments can be expected in the near future.