Nintendo Switch 2 owners can install system update 23.5.0 now, but its biggest shopping change still requires a wait. The firmware prepares the console to send digital purchases to Nintendo Account family-group members, while the eShop gifting service itself is scheduled to arrive next week.
Nintendo’s US announcement lists November 16 for that feature. Its UK support page and Japanese announcement list November 17. Those are the dates in the company’s regional notices, not a promise that installing the console update makes gifting available immediately.
The update also makes accessibility settings configurable during first-time setup and adds Portuguese as used in Portugal to two text-to-speech options. These Switch 2 changes are separate from the shopping feature being prepared for both the newer console and the original Nintendo Switch.
According to Nintendo’s official version 23.5.0 patch notes, the firmware adds support for gifting Nintendo eShop products to a member of a Nintendo Account family group. The UK page says the feature becomes available after eShop maintenance scheduled for November 17. It does not say every product will be eligible.
The family-group condition is the central limit. This is not an announced option to send a purchase to anyone on a friends list. Nintendo’s US explanation of digital gifting says a Nintendo Account family group can contain up to eight members, with recipients selected from that group during the purchase process.
Eligible products include games, downloadable content and upgrade packs. Nintendo also states that some products may be excluded, supervised accounts cannot send gifts, and the number of gift purchases allowed within a given period is limited. Its announcement does not specify a universal numerical purchase limit or provide a complete catalogue of exclusions.
Those qualifications matter before someone plans a birthday purchase around the new service. Membership of the same group is only one requirement; the product must also qualify, and the sending account must be permitted to make the gift. The announcement does not establish that every game, expansion or upgrade on the store will receive the option.
When the feature becomes available, Nintendo says the sender will visit a product page in the console’s eShop, select the “Give as a Gift” checkbox and proceed to purchase. The sender then chooses a family-group recipient and, where applicable, which of that person’s linked systems should receive it. Gift-wrap colour and other options are selected before completing payment.
The timing of delivery is less flexible than the wrapping. Nintendo says gifts are sent immediately. Its announcement does not describe a way to schedule delivery for a future date, so the point at which the sender completes the purchase matters if the present is meant to be a surprise.
The recipient will find the gift on the HOME Menu and can select and accept it there. Nintendo’s Japanese announcement adds that the recipient does not need to enter payment details or a download code to use the gifted product. This describes a new purchase sent through the store, not the transfer of an already-owned game from someone’s library.
On Switch 2, the immediate accessibility change concerns setup itself. Version 23.5.0 adds the ability to configure accessibility settings while setting up the console for the first time. That moves the configuration into the initial setup process rather than presenting it only as a task to complete afterwards. The patch notes do not enumerate a separate new set of accessibility tools under that heading.
The language additions are more specific. Under Accessibility in System Settings, Portuguese (Portugal) is added to “Text to Speech” and to GameChat’s “Convert Text to Speech” languages. These are text-to-speech additions, not a blanket announcement of new spoken-language support across every game or every GameChat transcription function.
Nintendo’s earlier update history helps distinguish the change from features already present. Its September 23.0.0 release included Portuguese (Brazil) among text-to-speech languages. The new entry names Portuguese (Portugal), so the two regional language variants should not be collapsed into a single claim that Portuguese support is entirely new.
The remaining 23.5.0 entry is a general statement about adjustments and fixes to improve the user experience. Nintendo does not name individual defects there. It therefore offers no basis for promising a particular frame-rate improvement, longer battery life or a fix for a specific game. Eastern Herald has not independently tested the firmware.
For installation, Nintendo’s Australian support instructions say an internet-connected console will usually download the latest update automatically. Owners can also open System Settings, select System and then System Update to check manually. The company advises restarting the console and trying again if the update cannot be completed.
Nintendo’s US notice dates the firmware release to November 9, while its UK and Australian pages use November 10. All identify version 23.5.0. Installing that version clears the stated software requirement for gifting, but the product exclusions and purchase-frequency limits remain less precisely defined than the download itself.
