The Wii U and 3DS eShops Are Closing Later Today
Nintendo’s plans to shutter the Wii U and 3DS eShops are going through as scheduled later today.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, you can expect them to close the stores at these timezones on these times:
To be clear, it will no longer be possible to buy new games and content on either the 3DS and Wii U eShops after this. You will also no longer be able to redeem codes for such content. You will still be able to redownload any games or content you have already purchased or claimed, in Nintendo’s words, “for the foreseeable future.”
If players still have balances left on their 3DS and Wii U eShop accounts, they have until March 2024 to merge their accounts to a Switch account, to ensure that they can still use the money on Nintendo Switch’s store.
If you are in a position where you actually need to do this, you can follow Nintendo’s official instructions on how to go about this process here, or if you have a UK account, here.
While many fans and advocates have used this closure as an opportunity to advocate for video game preservation, platform holders like Nintendo, Sony, Steam and others are not able to keep stores and games online indefinitely, for a variety of reasons.
Part of it, of course, is the fact that older storefronts are no longer profitable, with zero or few sales occurring in them as the years go by. Another factor that goes into them is that licenses for these games expire, and the IP holders are uninterested in relicensing them, at least in the same store.
Some games, like Hatred on Steam, or the original Meme Run on Wii U, can be removed from stores because of outrage or controversy. Getting back to Wii U, multiplayer online game Lost Reavers, the odd and possibly only live service game on the
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