Nintendo Is Shuttering 3DS And WiiU Online Services In April
The end of the Nintendo Network is coming
It’s the end of an era. On Monday night, Nintendo of America announced on their Twitter that online services for the 3DS and WiiU consoles, known as the Nintendo Network, will be discontinued in early April 2024. A specific date and time was not shared but will come.
The tweet read “As of early April 2024, online play and other functionality that uses online communication will end service for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software. Thank you very much for your continued support of our products.” On the official announcement page, it was clarified to affect New Nintendo 3DS-exclusive software as well. They also warned that if something happens that makes it difficult to continue it, the plug may be pulled sooner than then.
There is one thing that will remain in service, at least for a time after online services end: the storage app Pokémon Bank. The Pokémon Company does state Bank’s time to go offline will eventually come as well, recommending transferring Pokémon to its Nintendo Switch equivalent Pokémon HOME sooner rather than later. Players will still be able to download update data and redownload games purchased from the eShop “for the foreseeable future.” For Pokémon games, online functionality closure affects battling, trading (including Wonder Trades), and things like the Festival Plaza in Alola.
The shutdown does mark the end of SpotPass and the Badge Arcade, but StreetPass links between 3DS family systems will continue to work anywhere 3DS users are findable, according to the company. However while StreetPass Mii Plaza will still be functional, new pieces in Puzzle Swap won’t be obtainable. The Badge Arcade will display an error screen upon service’s end and the software will be unusable. As a result, the Practice Catcher will no longer be available. Badges received will continue to be available for decorating the 3DS’s HOME Menu. However the badge box will be inaccessible, leaving access to a maximum of 100 categories and 1,000 badges that are in the badge box. Nintendo puts the onus on users to finish placing badges before the end of services to salvage them, and to prepare SD cards for such and possible disasters.
The process for paring down both consoles began with the gradual closure of their eShops, which was announced in February 2022. On May 23, 2022, using a credit card to add funds to an eShop account ended. August 29, 2022, Nintendo eShop cards were no longer accepted. On April 3, 2023, download codes met the same fate. But the week before, on March 27, 2023 at 5:00 PM Pacific Time, the eShop closed off all purchases and transactions. By April 2024 that makes it a two-year process and only a year in the post-eShop phase. In terms of Pokémon, the 3DS eShop will have managed to last nearly six and a half years after their final games on the system Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, mid-seventh generation. The franchise is now in its ninth generation. This is a mix of gracious and expectation-meeting compared to the previous generation of consoles, the Wii and DS, whose Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection system was shut down in May 2014 just seven months and a week after Pokémon X and Y brought the franchise to the 3DS, after the DS housed the fourth and fifth generation games.
As for whether Nintendo Switch Online will inevitably meet the same fate, CEO Shuntaro Furukawa said the current Nintendo Account system is crucial for better transitions to new hardware generations after the Switch. He noted how difficult and frustrating it was to rebuild customer relationships with every new network.
