Nintendo requires verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information from children under 13, and provides parents with tools to review, modify, or delete their child's data.
This analysis describes what Nintendo's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
The provision creates a dual framework: it restricts general data collection from children pending parental authorization while carving out an exception permitting collection of technical identifiers required for service operation. This operational structure addresses COPPA compliance requirements while maintaining necessary infrastructure functionality.
Nintendo now explicitly discloses that it collects persistent identifiers (IP addresses, device IDs) from child users for operational, security, fraud prevention, and service improvement purposes, and states that contractual restrictions limit how service providers can use this data. Parents gain enhanced transparency by being able to view a named list of third-party games and applications authorized to access their child's account, rather than just managing access through settings. The policy also clarifies that location information may be used for check-ins at Nintendo locations and events in addition to location-based games. You can review and manage which third-party apps have access to your child's account through your Nintendo Account profile settings.
View change record →Nintendo now discloses that it uses location data not only for location-based games and friend connections, but also to enable check-ins at specific events and Nintendo locations, which is a new explicit use case. The policy now details how child user data including persistent identifiers like IP addresses and device IDs are collected and retained, with commitments to delete or de-identify data based on sensitivity and account activity. Parents can now see which third-party apps have been authorized to access their child's account before deciding whether to allow continued access, giving more visibility into connected applications.
View change record →The revised policy simplifies how Nintendo describes data retention, now stating information is retained only as long as reasonably necessary in accordance with applicable law, without prior detail about sensitivity-based retention practices. For child users, the policy no longer explicitly lists persistent identifiers (IP addresses, device identifiers) that Nintendo and service providers collect, removing specific disclosure language that previously detailed collection purposes for child accounts. The policy now indicates it collects error information from both users and devices, broadening the prior language focused on device errors only. The privacy certification body changed from CARU to ESRB, meaning independent audits and enforcement are now administered by the Entertainment Software Rating Board rather than the Children's Advertising Review Unit.
View change record →Parents have the right to review, limit, or delete their child's personal data held by Nintendo, and Nintendo cannot collect or share children's data without parental approval.
How other platforms handle this
to request that your data be transferred to a third party (data portability)
Your organization may allow you to access and export your data in order to back it up or transfer it to a service outside of Google.
Further, you may take legal actions in relation to any potential breach of your rights regarding the processing of your Personal Information, as well as to lodge complaints before the competent data prot...
"We do not knowingly collect, use or share information from children under a certain age without parental consent or as permitted by law (e.g., a "child" is under the age of 13 in the United States, under the age of 14 in Quebec, etc.). However, please note that we collect, and we permit our service providers to collect, persistent identifiers, such as IP addresses, device identifiers and other unique identifiers from such child users, solely for purposes necessary to support the internal operations of our services.Excerpt from Nintendo's Privacy Policy
This provision engages COPPA (15 U.S.C.
Enforcement risk, jurisdiction flags, contract triggers, and due diligence action items.
Ad personalization controls removed. Contact scanning added. Advertiser data partnerships quietly dropped. A timeline of every change.
Get the research letter
Companies change their terms quietly. We read every version and catch what actually changed. One email a week on the changes that matter and what they mean.
The provision creates a dual framework: it restricts general data collection from children pending parental authorization while carving out an exception permitting collection of technical identifiers required for service operation. This operational structure addresses COPPA compliance requirements while maintaining necessary infrastructure functionality.
Parents have the right to review, limit, or delete their child's personal data held by Nintendo, and Nintendo cannot collect or share children's data without parental approval.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 289 platforms. See the full comparison.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Nintendo.