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Nintendo to discountinue Wii-U & 3DS e-Shop as of March 2023

Lulcielid

Eyes of the Lord
AKA
Lulcy
https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/57847

As of late March 2023, it will no longer be possible to make purchases in Nintendo eShop for the Wii U system and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. It will also no longer be possible to download free content, including game demos. Furthermore, as this date draws closer, related services will cease to function:

  • As of May 23, 2022, it will no longer be possible to use a credit card to add funds to an account in Nintendo eShop on Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.
  • As of August 29, 2022, it will no longer be possible to use a Nintendo eShop Card to add funds to an account in Nintendo eShop on Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. However, it will still be possible to redeem download codes until late March 2023.
Users who link their Nintendo Network ID wallet (used with Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems) with their Nintendo Account wallet (used with the Nintendo Switch family of systems) can use the shared balance to purchase content on any of these systems until late March 2023. After that, the balance can only be used to purchase content for the Nintendo Switch family of systems.

No changes are planned for Nintendo eShop on the Nintendo Switch family of systems.

The changes to Nintendo eShop on Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems will simultaneously take effect in software on these platforms where it is possible to make purchases, such as StreetPass Mii Plaza, Theme Shop and Nintendo Badge Arcade.

Even after late March 2023, and for the foreseeable future, it will still be possible to redownload games and DLC, receive software updates and enjoy online play on Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.

We thank you for supporting Nintendo eShop on Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. While we hope that you will continue to enjoy using these systems, we have taken this opportunity to prepare a website where you can look back on your time with them via various play statistics. Please visit https://my-nintendo-3ds-wiiu-memories.nintendo.com/.

Q&A
Q&A
Why is this happening?
This is part of the natural lifecycle for any product line as it becomes less used by consumers over time.

Why are you announcing this now?
We are providing this notice more than a year in advance of the end of purchases so users will have plenty of time to prepare.

Are any other services or functions of Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS family of systems going to be discontinued, such as online play?
There are no plans to make any further changes at this time.

How long will it still be possible to redownload previously purchased content in Nintendo eShop for Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS family of systems? How long will those systems still support online play?
For the foreseeable future, it will still be possible to redownload games and DLC, receive software updates and enjoy online play on Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.

There are still Nintendo eShop Cards at retailers that show the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS logos. What will happen to them?
  • These cards will continue to be at retail while supplies last.
  • All Nintendo eShop Cards can be used to add funds to a Nintendo Account balance for use on the Nintendo Switch
  • This can be done via Nintendo eShop on the system itself.
If someone visits Nintendo eShop and wants to download something on Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS family systems after late March 2023, what will they able to do?
  • On both platforms, users will still be able to:
    • Redownload content they own
    • Download existing software updates
  • On both platforms, users will not be able to:
    • Purchase any content
      • On Nintendo 3DS, this includes paid content, plays and passes in software such as StreetPass Mii Plaza, Theme Shop, Nintendo Badge Arcade and Pokémon Bank.
      • On Wii U, this includes passes in software such as Wii Sports Club.
    • Download demos
    • Download free-to-start software
    • Redeem a download code
    • Add funds to their Nintendo eShop balance
  • On Nintendo 3DS family systems, users will still be able to:
    • Download a small number of free themes from Theme Shop
 

Sephiroth Crescent

Way Ahead of the Plot
I knew this was bound to happen, but it sucks.

Me: :scared:

The N: :nintendodirect:

Others: :arr:

Me: :rage::wallbanger::'(:sigh:

The N: :pimp:

Maybe Me: :arr:

At least there's a 1 year time since warning, but...
Still sucks so much.

:whyyoudothis:
 

Rydeen

In-KWEH-dible
My 3DS (backlight probably) suddenly stopped working. It was lightly used and I took good care of it. I can’t believe how expensive these still are even used.
 

Prism

Pro Adventurer
AKA
pikpixelart
There’s always mixed feelings when a company does this. It’s inevitable, and I can’t tell you the last time I bought something on either the Wii U or 3ds stores. (I hear there’s an exploit to mod the Wii U through some DS virtual console games, so I might buy that before it closes lol)

But at the same time, anytime this happens, thousands of games and other media get taken offline and would be lost if people didn’t back them up. So I always have mixed emotions about it.

At the very least, they gave a ton of advance notice. Maybe I’ll go out of my way to buy something.
 
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Sephiroth Crescent

Way Ahead of the Plot
My 3DS (backlight probably) suddenly stopped working. It was lightly used and I took good care of it. I can’t believe how expensive these still are even used.
Do what you must no matter the cost to bring life to it again. I myself need more of those even.
They're actual gold because the (3)DS line isn't going to come back ever, but was full of precious stuff (and stereoscopic 3D was real cool). :cry:
Just don't let anyone else know about this. :mon:
 

Rydeen

In-KWEH-dible
Do what you must no matter the cost to bring life to it again. I myself need more of those even.
They're actual gold because the (3)DS line isn't going to come back ever, but was full of precious stuff (and stereoscopic 3D was real cool). :cry:
Just don't let anyone else know about this. :mon:

I loved my 3DS games. I wish I’d played more of them; I hadn’t used it for like 2 years and I turn it on a few weeks ago and it’s broken. I also have the golden triforce edition so maybe I should put some effort into fixing it.
 

Prism

Pro Adventurer
AKA
pikpixelart
After a few days of thinking about it, I’m wondering what the actual cost of leaving these services up is. The thing that changed my mind is the fact the Xbox 360 shop has been open for seventeen years. (In fact, I used it last year to buy some DLC)

With that setting the gold standard, how much is hosting these services really costing Nintendo? Is there a way to look into that?
 

Makoeyes987

Listen closely, there is meaning in my words.
AKA
Smooth Criminal
What? Are we still pretending this is about costs and not Nintendo trying to corner the retro game market and get people to rely on their shitty subscription service?

I thought that was obvious.
 

Cthulhu

Administrator
AKA
Yop
I don't think it's so much a matter of the cost of keeping the services up - I mean they can deploy them on AWS and the like, a pay-as-you-go scheme, etc. But the bigger issue is probably software maintenance. If it's 17ish years old, it's probably an older version of Java, which has long stopped being supported for security updates. Recently there's been weaknesses found in a popular logging library, and I'm not convinced any of the libraries used have been kept up to date.

What probably should have happened is that they kept a team of software developers on the project to make sure things keep up to date and running smoothly. But it would be a bit of a hamster in a treadmill kind of job, regularly updating software and libraries and changing the code around to keep it working with those newer versions without actually building any new functionality.

Another option would be to add backwards compatibility support to the software behind the newer stores.

Another option would be to rebuild the stores, but that would be a big investment for low returns.

But doing nothing is a risk / reward tradeoff. If they do nothing, it would probably only be a matter of time before someone finds out that they're running outdated software / libraries, find a way in, and do nasty shit like steal user accounts. They wouldn't like that risk. The longer they keep this software running, the more it becomes a liability which may cost them dearly.
 
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