Nintendo announced the closure of the e-shop for ‘Nintendo 3DS’ and ‘Wil U’ from March 2023. As a result, opposition from the Nintendo community is growing.
According to Nintendo’s official website, the following procedures will be followed. From May 23, 2022, some credit cards will be restricted from adding funds to the account, and from August 29, all additions will be restricted. Even after the closure, re-downloads and online play of already purchased games and DLC will be supported for the foreseeable future, and the remaining balance will be available for use in the Nintendo Switch eShop.
After the e-shop is closed in March 2023, all online content purchases related to Nintendo 3DS and Wil U will be restricted.
Some of Nintendo’s announcements (source: Nintendo)
However, after the sudden announcement, there is a backlash from the Nintendo-related community who came across the fact. One of the key points is that it is no longer possible to enjoy the ‘classic games’ provided by the ‘virtual console’ services of ‘Nintendo 3DS’ and ‘Will U’. Virtual Console is a game download service of the Nintendo eShop, and you can play about 500 classic games released on the Super Famicom, Nintendo 64, and Nintendo DS on Wii, 3DS, and Wii U.
Nintendo recently mentioned that through Nintendo’s ‘Switch Membership Plan’, you can enjoy 130 classic games on the Switch. Nintendo stated that it believes this policy is an effective way to make classic content accessible to a wide range of players, stating that “we have no plans to offer classic content in any other way.” The FAQ has now been deleted.
Currently, the FAQ has been deleted (Source: Nintendo)
About 1,000 ‘digital-only’ titles and contents that exist in the e-shop are also being opposed by the fact that there is no way to purchase them. In particular, it is difficult to port game contents using the exclusive functions of Nintendo 3DS or Wii U to other devices, so if you do not purchase them in advance, you will virtually lose your chance to access them.
According to ‘Nintendo Life’, an overseas Nintendo webzine, the discussion seems to have been going on since about 2014. An anonymous former Nintendo America employee has been discussing the matter since 14 years due to the commercial failure of the Wii U and the burden of repairs. It is said that the contents were announced in 2022.
The anonymous informant also noted that it is speculated that the eShop is hastening to clean up the Nintendo ID system used on the 3DS and Wii U.
Nintendo Wii U. Showed sluggish sales due to lack of performance and lack of titles
As a result, various overseas communities and media criticize Nintendo’s decision. The Video Game History Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the history of video games, tweeted that while “understanding the business realities”, “blocking the institutional work to preserve these titles is an active destruction of video game history.” He urged Nintendo to reconsider its position and find a solution.
Interestingly, a similar case can be found in Sony’s ‘PSP Vita’, which competed with the Nintendo 3DS. Sony has announced that it will stop supporting the PS Store on PS3, PS Vita and PSP in March 2020. However, as concerns and backlash over the sudden announcement grew, Sony changed its policy to terminating the service as scheduled only for the PSP, saying that it “made the wrong decision.”
Statement from the Video Game History Foundation (Source: Twitter)