Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShop will close in 2023

The company doesn’t plan to keep any classic games, so you have about a year to get the ones you’re missing out on.

(main image credit: Nintendo)

In a post titled Wii U & Nintendo 3DS eShop Discontinuation, Nintendo has just announced the official shutdown in March of 2023 of the app used to make purchases on these consoles.

The effects of this shutdown can be felt sooner, and here’s how:

• From May 23, 2022, players will not be able to add a credit card or add money to an existing Nintendo eShop account for Wii U and 3DS.
• From August 29, 2022, players will no longer be able to add money through an eShop Gift Card to their account. However, game redemption codes will remain valid until the official eShop closes.

For games already downloaded on these consoles, Nintendo states that they can be enjoyed as before. After March 2023, it will still be possible to re-download games or DLC, receive game updates, and enjoy online modes for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.

Many classics are missing

This announcement was somewhat expected, given that the 3Ds are now eleven years old, and the Nintendo Wii U ten. On the other hand, what hurts even more is the disappearance of the opportunity to purchase many of the classics that were now exclusively for sale on these consoles. When asked about the possibility of porting some of these classics to the Nintendo Switch eShop to keep the chance of getting them, here’s Nintendo’s answer.

On our Nintendo Switch Online subscription plans, over 130 classic games are currently available in the growing libraries of popular consoles. Games are often enriched with new features such as online play.

We think this is an effective way to make classic content accessible to a wide range of players. In these libraries, players who are new and for a long time can not only find games that they remember and have heard about, but also other fun games that they might not have thought to look for otherwise.

We do not currently have any plans to provide classic content in any other way.

This news disappoints some gamers who don’t think a subscription offer is the equivalent of owning a game. However, you will have to buy the classics available on these consoles fairly quickly, as they will not be officially available after March 2023. But, if you, like many gamers, have given up these consoles for several years for the Nintendo Switch, you will not This closure affects your games already purchased in the digital version at this time.