Module 08
Tax and payments
Nintendo does not publish its revenue share, payout schedule or tax treatment on the public FAQ. UK tax rules, however, are public — and you will need to report whatever you earn.
Not legal or tax advice
This module is a map of official public sources, not a personal recommendation. A UK accountant who has dealt with digital royalties is worth talking to before money starts to arrive, and before you decide between sole trader and limited company.
What Nintendo publishes — and what it does not
Publicly, Nintendo tells you that you set the price, that a publishing agreement is part of preparing to sell, and that there are tools for price promotions after launch. The Europe contact for publishing questions is agreements_publisher@nintendo.de.
The public FAQ does not state:
- the revenue share Nintendo retains, or whether it varies;
- how often you are paid, in which currency, or to which kind of bank account;
- whether Nintendo is the merchant of record, or how VAT or sales tax is displayed and remitted in each country;
- what tax forms you will be asked for (for example, information Nintendo may need if it has to withhold tax in another country).
Those points almost certainly live in the publishing agreement and in portal payment settings. Until you can read them, do not budget on a blog’s “industry standard 30%” figure, and do not promise yourself a monthly payout date.
Sources: FAQ; The Process; Contact
Behind the agreement
Payment terms, withholding, regional tax documentation, and the split of each sale are NDA or contract material. If a publisher later pays you instead of Nintendo, that contract is a second, separate document. Read both.
UK tax facts you can check on GOV.UK
Regardless of how Nintendo (or a publisher) pays you, income from the game is still your income or your company’s income.
- If you operate as a sole trader (including if you registered with Nintendo as an individual), you normally report profits through Self Assessment.
- If you operate through a limited company, the company accounts for Corporation Tax. Money you then take as salary or dividends has its own tax rules.
- VAT: GOV.UK currently states that businesses have to register for VAT if their VAT taxable turnover is more than £90,000, and that they can also choose to register below that threshold. Whether a particular stream of Nintendo royalties counts towards taxable turnover, and how VAT on games sold to players is handled, is exactly the sort of question to confirm with an accountant against Nintendo’s contract. Do not assume, and do not ignore the threshold.
- Keep records. You will want a clean paper trail of payouts, refunds, currency conversion, engine or middleware invoices, and any contractor costs.
Sources: How VAT works — GOV.UK; Register for VAT — GOV.UK; Self Assessment; Corporation Tax. Threshold checked 15 November 2026; always re-check, because it can change.
Other costs that are public, but are not Nintendo’s
Depending on the engine path you choose, you may also pay:
- Unity Pro, or a Preferred Platform key, if you use Unity (current price on Unity’s store, not quoted here).
- GameMaker Enterprise, if you use GameMaker (current price on GameMaker’s store).
- W4 Consoles middleware, if you use that Godot path — W4’s public Starter price, checked in November 2026, was $800 per console platform per year, or $2,000 a year for all listed console platforms, with eligibility caps. Confirm on W4’s site before you budget.
- A porting house or publisher fee or revenue share, which will be in their quote, not in Nintendo’s FAQ.
- Development hardware, once you can see the official portal price.
Digital-only IARC ratings remain the one Nintendo-related rating cost that is officially described as free (module 6).