3DS and Wii U Online Services Officially Shutting Down on April 8 - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 23 January 2024 / 3,556 Views
Nintendo announced it will be shutting down online services for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U on April 8 at 4:00 pm PT / 7:00 pm ET.
It will still be possible "for the foreseeable future" to download update and redownload purchased software and DLC from the Nintendo eShop.
"Thank you very much for supporting our products," said Nintendo. "At 4pm PDT on April 8, 2024, online play and other functionality that uses online communication will end for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software. This also includes online co-operative play, internet rankings, and data distribution."
Nintendo added, "Please note that if an event occurs that would make it difficult to continue online services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software, we may have to discontinue services earlier than planned.
"We sincerely thank players for using the online services of Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software over a long period of time and apologize for any inconvenience"
Update: as of 4/8, online play and other functionality that uses online communication will end service for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software. Thank you very much for your continued support of our products.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) January 24, 2024
Find out more: https://t.co/VdIdewGmB5
Read a Q&A below:
Will I still be able to play offline even after online services end?
Yes. Players will still be able to use features and game modes that do not require online communication.
Will any online services still be available even after online services generally end?
It will still be possible to use online services for the following software but that may also end at some point in the future.
- Pokemon Bank
- Poke Transporter
Are you also ending online services for software from publishers other than Nintendo?
With some exceptions, online services will end for all Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software. Please contact publishers for information about the online services for their software.
Will it still be possible to download update data or purchased software?
For the foreseeable future, it will still be possible to download update data and redownload purchased software and downloadable content from Nintendo eShop.
When online services end, will StreetPass and SpotPass no longer be available either?
StreetPass uses local communication between Nintendo 3DS family systems, meaning that it will still be available even after online services end. However, because SpotPass uses online communication, SpotPass features will no longer be available.
For example, you will be able to use StreetPass in StreetPass Mii Plaza, which is pre-installed on Nintendo 3DS family systems, but you will no longer be able to use features that use online communication (such as receiving new panels in Puzzle Swap).
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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This is too soon in both cases, but especially for the 3DS. That system was discontinued in late 2020, which means the shutdown of its online services is occurring about 3.5 years after the system stopped being sold. Way, way too soon. Frankly, I think this is totally unacceptable.
Agreed.
Especially with an install base of 75~ million which puts it inline with the Xbox 360 which still has it's services online... And that console released 6 years earlier.
Plus the 3DS is still a fairly popular console being able to play DS software, wish I could still do eShop purchases... But Alas. They don't want my cash.
Nintendo and console manufacturers NEED to support their platforms for longer periods of time... ESPECIALLY as we start going digital-only.
Blizzard Entertainment for example still has all it's games playable on PC online even the original Diablo from 1997/26 years ago.
Running an old server isn't that expensive or difficult, you can scale the hardware down as the playerbase shrinks... Or in Microsoft's case they allow internet providers to cache their data next to the content delivery networks so it's nearest as possible to consumers which lessens the data costs on their end.
Wow i did not know Blizzard had been keeping those servers up for so long. I thought it was the fans that were doing that.
To be fair, the online data transactions in Diablo 1 are Peer 2 Peer, but they have still kept the patching and authentication servers operational.
Same with StarCraft 1 and WarCraft 2.
Blizzard isn't afraid to release a patch/update after 20 years either which is good...
Worth noting though that the original DS, which released about a year before the 360, had its online services shutdown in 2014.
While disappointing, its a pattern that has come to be expected from Nintendo.
I’m at least thankful that Pokemon Bank is staying online (for now), given I only started making use of that when it became free to use last year.
I'm just a massive supporter of game preservation... If games are classified as an Art, then they need to be preserved as such.
And perhaps that requires a rethink in how to maintain online services... On PC when a service closes, it's usually picked up by the community to keep it running.
I.E. Freelancer - Microsoft closed that games worldwide server in 2008... And the Freelancer community took over and has kept it online ever since.
Perhaps there is business sense to send the responsibilities to maintain an online network to a 3rd party to maintain so Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft themselves don't need to manage it?
Or open source the online platforms so the community can do the hard work and maintain it.
Damn, even the PS3 store is still UP till this day.
Yes that is amazing to think about and now xbox 360 store will be shutting down this year. But I beleive you can still play 360 games despite the store shutting down this year.
PS3 sold like 10x more consoles
How much lost media is here? You can download but can't buy and if a game is only 3DS or WiiU, it's essentially never purchasable again, right? Rare that this is mind you.
Nintendo shuts down their services so much earlier than other consoles it sucks. You can still play PS3/360 games online and they're shutting down consoles released 6/7 years later.
This sucks even more for platforms with tailored made exclusives like the 3DS. A lot of game's online modes are just lost in time and it's much less likely to get something like Kid Icarus Uprising ported over than most console Nintendo published titles.
And of course, e-shop only titles. Europe missed out on some physical editions so that adds to it.
Digital forever....until its not
I've been playing Splatoon 1 almost daily for a month now because of this. It's a real shame, and it's going to missed... at least by me!
