Nintendo will shut down the company’s online stores for the Nintendo 3DS handheld and Wii U console. Once these Nintendo eShops are shut, it will not be possible any longer to make purchases digitally for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U group of systems.
Closure of the Nintendo eShops also indicates that demos of games and free content cannot be accessed any longer or downloaded after March 2023.
The Nintendo 3DS eShop offers 191 games via virtual console in North America, the Wii eShop offers over 300.
While the date is more than a year away, some things will be lost much before that. It will become tougher to buy games and various other content from this Nintendo eShop this year.
By May 23, 2021, the company has declared it will end the facility to add funds to Nintendo eShop accounts with credit cards.
After August 29, fans can no longer use the Nintendo eShop Card on Nintendo 3DS or Wii U, a notice put up by Nintendo.
After the complete shutdown of these Nintendo eShops on March 2023, Nintendo has declared that fans can still re-download DLC and games, play 3DS and Wii games online, and get software updates.
Given Past Records, The Nintendo eShops Will Stick To Their Deadline Despite Opposition From Fans
A FAQ posted online says that over time, this is within the natural lifecycle of a product line that has falling customer demand.
Fans have not taken kindly, but their outcry seems unlikely to alter Nintendo’s decision to end all support for the Nintendo eShops. Their Wii Shop channel was earlier closed in 2019 while ending support in 2021 on Wii for Super Mario Maker despite strong fan opposition.
The company has informed that under the Switch Online membership plan, more than 130 classic games remain available. Nintendo said they believe that would be an effective method to make classical content readily available for all categories of players.
