Nintendo is closing down eShops for Wii U and 3DS in March 2023

On July 19, Nintendo announced that the eShops for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS would be discontinued.

“As of 8/29/2022, it will no longer be possible to add funds. As of 3/27/2023, purchases will no longer be available.” This just means that users can’t buy downloadable content from the consoles’ shops anymore.

This applies to the people in the West and the users in Japan. Fortunately, even after the closing of these consoles’ eShops, it would still be possible to re-download previously purchased games and DLCs. Online play would still be available for games that support it, and there would still be software updates for both the Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS.

This somewhat makes sense from a business standpoint, as the Wii U and the 3Ds have been around for over a decade. However, people have criticized the decision of Nintendo not to transfer any of the legacy games into the eShop for the Nintendo Switch, as that modern handheld console surely has the processing power to run older games. This tweet sums up that criticism perfectly:

Another user criticized digital shops on consoles as a whole:

Many found that this announcement forces users to pirate games for the two consoles:

March 27, 2023 is still pretty far away, but Nintendo made the announcement early to notify users as soon as possible and give them the time to settle any purchases or downloads from the Wii U and 3DS eShops before they are discontinued.

 

Other POP! stories you might like:

Twitter on new Nintendo Switch update: ‘Finally, the Switch has folders’

Nintendo launches official website in the Philippines

Nintendo takes down Pokemon DP Sound Library after only 3 months

Read more...