Ever since Nintendo launched the Nintendo Switch, it has been the main console of the Japanese multinational video game company. However, throughout all these years, the eShop for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS remained open for anyone interested in buying games for these consoles. It seems this will no longer be the case starting March 2023, though, as Nintendo recently announced that you could no longer purchase digital games on the Wii U and 3DS eShops by then. Although the eShops won’t be discontinued until next year, Nintendo will be rolling out a couple of changes to eShop purchases until we reach that deadline. Some of these changes include:
- By May 23, 2022, you can no longer add funds to your eShop account on the two platforms using a credit card.
- By August 29, 2022, you can no longer use eShop gift cards to deposit funds into your account on Wii U and 3DS.
- You won’t be able to redeem any download codes you may have for those two devices after March 2023.
- If you have funds in your Nintendo Wallet account, you won’t be able to use them to purchase Wii U and 3DS titles after March 2023.
However, this doesn’t mean Nintendo will completely shut down the Wii U and 3DS. This is what Nintendo says regarding the matter:
However, you can no longer download free-to-start titles and demos after the provided deadline.
It’s an unfortunate occurrence, but Nintendo says it’s part of “the natural lifecycle for any product line as it becomes less used by consumers over time.” In other words, the Wii U and 3DS are becoming obsolete, which is what happens to most consoles down the line as newer generations are released. This also means that interested gamers will now have a limited timeframe to purchase Virtual Console titles on both devices. Although Nintendo’s Switch Online subscription service does offer many retro and classic games, it doesn’t have as many titles available as what’s offered on the Virtual Console.
When Nintendo initially posted the support article explaining the changes, a section mentioned that “many classic games for past platforms will cease to be available for purchase anywhere.” Nintendo says that gamers can access classic games via its Nintendo Switch Online subscription service and that it doesn’t plan on offering “classic content in other ways.” However, the company removed that section shortly after its publication.