Yes switch2 definitely is the trigger for what ever evaluation internally at Nintendo causing this.

My take on this is that gold points was a method to drive digital purchases over physical media.

Nintendo gets all the revenue and don’t have to share with retailers, also digital is a lot cheaper then physical media to produce and distribute.

Now in 2025 digital numbers are so high that they no longer feel the incentive is worth it’s cost.

Also I would personally reserve the term “anti-consumer” for other more sinister things then removing a free perk or bonus… Nintendo have lots of practices that fall under this term, I don’t feel this is one.

Especially since they are giving quite a lot of room for you to spend whatever gold points you have on your account. Anti consumer would be outright refusing to cash in the point right away.