Nintendo Ends eShop Purchases for Wii U and 3DS Next Year
Nintendo has revealed that eShop purchases on the Wii U and 3DS will end next year.
More specifically, eShop purchases will no longer be available on these two consoles after the end of March 2023. If digital game preservation takes a hit, the only way to buy games on both the Wii U and 3DS is physically if this goes into effect, and if a previous digital store closure like this is any indication, then the price of those physical games will skyrocket soon.
As of late March 2023, it will no longer be possible to make Nintendo eShop purchases for the Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 16, 2022
More info: https://t.co/uGoxCcDZ70
Nintendo said on its website that “free content, including game demos, will no longer be available for download.” “As of August 29, 2022, you will no longer be able to use your Nintendo eShop card to top up funds to your Nintendo eShop account on your Wii U or Nintendo 3DS family of systems. However, you will be able to redeem download codes until the end of March 2023.”
Of course, no changes to the eShop on the Switch console are planned as a result of this (though it wouldn’t be great if Nintendo could somehow bring Wii U games and 3DS games to the Switch eShop).
The Nintendo website states, “After the end of March 2023 and in the near future, you will be able to re-download games and DLC, receive software updates, and play online on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS families.” “Thank you. Thank you for supporting the Nintendo eShop on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS family of systems.”
Nintendo’s Q&A for the announcement stated that this happens “because it’s part of the natural lifecycle of any product line as consumers become less and less used over time” and “because we’re giving this notice more than a year ago” . We buy so that users have ample time to prepare.”
What’s particularly sad about this news is that there are still many games that are still only playable on this console, such as Xenoblade Chronicles X. It’s stuck on the Wii U because it wasn’t ported to the Switch like Xenoblade Chronicles for example. Now when the Wii U eShop goes offline, the price of physical copies of Xenoblade Chronicles X will skyrocket and tracking and actually playing the game will be harder than ever. But in the meantime, you can look at the Wii U and 3DS memory and see the highlights of the time on their consoles.
