Nintendo has announced this morning that online play and functionality for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS games will close for those two legacy platforms, meaning no more online play for Mario Kart 7 on Nintendo 3DS and the original Splatoon on the Wii U, etc. Nintendo has yet to announce a specific date, but the online service is planned to close in early April 2024. The Kyoto-based company concluded by saying, “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.” You can read the full FAQ here.
“Thank you very much for supporting our products.
In early April 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.
We will announce a specific end date and time at a later date.
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.”
Why does it always feel like these shutdowns happen way too soon?
Sure, I don’t remember the last time I played any 3DS or Wii U game online, but still…
Doesn’t really matter, they already closed the eshop, I don’t think people bother with online anymore on 3-U 😂
I hate to see these online services go too soon on both consoles. Sometimes I just feel like we wish to be reborn and go back to those times for old time sakes by going back on where we left off or start over from the beginning even if I have to beg to God for it. :-(
Can’t prevent the inevitable it was gonna happen eventually, keeping servers up and running isn’t exactly free for maintenance and techs. They aren’t gonna keep the servers up and running with the majority of the fanbase moving on to current gen systems.
I expected 2025, but oh well…
This is why digital only will hurt rhe industry even more because most people will not buy it digital after a fiasco like that. The people of Sream can really call themselves lucky, because PC games Player simply suck it up… yet.
Think about the games we lost through the 3DS’ eshop shutdown.
On the 3DS I enjoyed very much playing Smash Bros and Kid Icarus online. Absolute blast of an experience on a handheld
Why Nintendo why? Shame
I’m so sad. No more Wonder Trade in Pokemon. No more Splatoon (for real this time). No more Mario Kart 7 or OG 8 online. No more Swapdoodle sending.
I just started doing Wonder Trading on Pokemon X before this was announced, and now it’s just saddening.
This actually sucks pretty bad. Completing the Pokedex for the 3DS Pokemon games will be so much more painful. I’m trying to do this now with Ultra Moon, better hurry before this happens 😭😭
U better mod
I think this is about the same time as they’re gonna cut access to the digital game store for the Xbox 360. What’re the odds?
The sad part about this for me is I just recently had a discussion with a friend a few months ago about how the 3DS’ online service still works and she could still play Pokemon Moon if she wanted. She had been putting it off, because she felt she would miss all the features, and now this happens. I also just started replaying Pokemon X this year, and did a couple wonder trade for the heck of it. These are sad times indeed.