In a submit titled “Wii U & Nintendo 3DS eShop Discontinuation”, Nintendo simply introduced that during March 2023 the web storefronts for each techniques shall be ceasing operations.
However in a sensible sense the closures will start so much quicker than that:
– As of Would possibly 23, 2022, it is going to now not be conceivable to make use of a bank card so as to add finances to an account in Nintendo eShop on Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS circle of relatives of techniques.
– As of August 29, 2022, it is going to now not be conceivable to make use of a Nintendo eShop Card so as to add finances to an account in Nintendo eShop on Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS circle of relatives of techniques. Then again, it is going to nonetheless be conceivable to redeem obtain codes till overdue March 2023.
Relating to folks enjoying and playing the video games they already personal, Nintendo says:
Even after overdue March 2023, and for the foreseeable long run, it is going to nonetheless be conceivable to redownload video games and DLC, obtain tool updates and revel in on-line play on Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS circle of relatives of techniques.
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All of this is expected stuff. The 3DS is 11 years old this year and the Wii U ten, so digital store closures were always going to happen sooner or later. What’s shitty about these closures in particular, though, is that both shopfronts offered users the ability to purchase and then own many of Nintendo’s greatest ever titles, something you’re now largely unable to do ever since the company switched to a subscription model with Nintendo Switch Online.
The company saw this coming. When the blog post was first made, an associated FAQ had the following exchange:
Once it is no longer possible to purchase software in Nintendo eShop on Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems, many classic games for past platforms will cease to be available for purchase anywhere. Will you make classic games available to own some other way? If not, then why? Doesn’t Nintendo have an obligation to preserve its classic games by continually making them available for purchase?
Across our Nintendo Switch Online membership plans, over 130 classic games are currently available in growing libraries for various legacy systems. The games are often enhanced with new features such as online play.
We think this is an effective way to make classic content easily available to a broad range of players. Within these libraries, new and longtime players can not only find games they remember or have heard about, but other fun games they might not have thought to seek out otherwise.
We currently have no plans to offer classic content in other ways.
“We currently have no plans to offer classic content in other ways” is an incredibly shitty thing to read, because under zero circumstances is a subscription-based model an acceptable substitution to actually owning a game.
Especially wild, then, is the fact that not long after publishing this, Nintendo wiped that particular section of the Q&A from its site. Cross and test it now and the “Doesn’t Nintendo have a duty to keep its vintage video games by way of regularly making them available to buy?” phase is long past.
