Nintendo has a new support document online detailing their plans to discontinue the ability to make new purchases in their eShops for the 3DS and Wii-U:
As of late March 2023, it will no longer be possible to make purchases in Nintendo eShop for the Wii U system and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. It will also no longer be possible to download free content, including game demos. Furthermore, as this date draws closer, related services will cease to function:
- As of May 23, 2022, it will no longer be possible to use a credit card to add funds to an account in Nintendo eShop on Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.
- As of August 29, 2022, it will no longer be possible to use a Nintendo eShop Card to add funds to an account in Nintendo eShop on Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. However, it will still be possible to redeem download codes until late March 2023.
Users who link their Nintendo Network ID wallet (used with Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems) with their Nintendo Account wallet (used with the Nintendo Switch family of systems) can use the shared balance to purchase content on any of these systems until late March 2023. After that, the balance can only be used to purchase content for the Nintendo Switch family of systems.
There are more details in the support article, and reassurances that it will still be possible to download purchases for “…for the foreseeable future…” but the justification is particularly galling:
Why is this happening?
This is part of the natural lifecycle for any product line as it becomes less used by consumers over time.
There’s nothing natural about shutting down the ability to purchase software for a platform, this is a decision that Nintendo is making. Just as with the PlayStation 3, Vita, and PlayStation Portable stores shutting down, this decision on the Nintendo’s part is an acknowledgement that they do not care about game preservation and will invalidate your ability to access the enormous libraries of games they sell whenever the lines on a chart start dipping and it becomes inconvenient to continue to support the purchase process.
Indeed, the original version of the support document on Nintendo’s website said that:
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.
Nintendo quickly removed this paragraph and supporting bullet points, they are missing from the currently published version of the support article. It couldn’t be more clear that now is the time to hack your 3DS and Wii-U because game pirates care more about game preservation than Nintendo. I do everything I can to avoid buying games for consoles digitally, preferring to buy physical cartridges and disks, and recommend you do the same.
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