The 3DS and Wii U Doomsday Clock Is Ticking
Nintendo previously confirmed their intent to shutter the Wii U and 3DS eShops, and the online services running alongside them. This was Nintendo, essentially, informing their audience of an impending doomsday for both systems. Now, they’ve confirmed precisely how long everyone has to purchase and download everything they want. No one has long.
The company confirmed that the eShops for both platforms will close on March 27th and March 28th in western territories and Japan, respectively. All options will vanish on those dates, including those for digital purchases, digital downloads for all sorts of content, and assorted services. All those memories associated with free-to-play titles and demos suddenly showing up on you 3DS after coming by SpotPass points and the even larger number of memories with Streetpass will become just that — memories. MiiVerse on both platforms was already discontinued years ago, which started on Wii U, but I’m sure plenty of memories from that platform that have also vanished if they weren’t preserved through screenshots. It’s a sad time, but keep in mind that Nintendo could absolutely afford to keep these stores and services going forever.
In a way, we’ve already crossed one pitstop on the ride to digital doom. The option to use credit and debit cards to purchase content directly on the eShops was removed on May 23rd. The moment apparently snuck up on a bunch of people, and the other pitstops will similarly arrive before everyone realizes it. The option to add funds to the eShop through digital and physical eShop card codes will be removed on August 29th — precisely one month from now. Following that, the only way purchase games and downloadable content will be through download codes available through retailers, but that assumes your favored stores will have specific codes for the content you want.
That is, if the game you want will still be available. Nintendo confirmed alongside this news that Fire Emblem Fates will be delisted on February 28th, one month before the eShop as a whole vanishes. The downloadable content, including the option to purchase the other story paths, will remain available until the eShop disappears afterward in March. They didn’t specify why this will be a case, and I couldn’t possibly figure out why. Deals made with outside development staffers like writer Shin Kibayashi wouldn’t typically expire, for example, and I’ll assume they’re not doing this for the sake of it.
A number of publishers have discounted their games on the 3DS and Wii U eShops in preparation for doomsday over the last few months, albeit temporarily. Capcom and Sega (the latter including Atlus) have been best at this, with good discounts for games like the Ace Attorney titles, Resident Evil Revelations, the Shin Megami Tensei IV games, and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. (This applies to a considerably larger number of 3DS games than Wii U titles, since third-party developers actually cared about the former.) Not all of these games are discounted at the moment, but they should be. Right now. At this very second. People only have one month to add funds to the shop codes, so the games themselves should be cheaper to ensure that people get as much as they can for their money. It’s not like publishers will be able to sell these games for much longer, not to mention the sad state of the economy at the moment. Help some gamers out, huh?
I’m well aware that some publishers will simply not put their games on sale, with Nintendo themselves being chief among them, leading by example. It’s already a struggle to goad them into putting recent Nintendo Switch games on sale, so of course they can’t be bothered to do so with 3DS games anymore. The best offers will be for those that joined the Nintendo Selects line, which, of course, also wasn’t as robust as it should have been. Nintendo loves to be unique in every way.
This, on a similar note, is yet another reminder for publishers to port these games to current platforms. This was a problem highlighted when Nintendo previously announced the closure of the eShops, and little progress has been made among publishers who’ve yet to do so. Some already thought ahead, like Capcom, but — act surprised — Nintendo is one of the more grievous offenders here, particularly regarding 3DS games. Games like The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Luigi’s Mansion 2, the aforementioned Fire Emblem Fates, several Mario & Luigi games, and too many more remain stuck on 3DS, and will be unavailable come the end of March. Well, outside piracy. When publishers can’t be bothered to preserve their games, someone has to.
If you’re the lucky owner of a 3DS and Wii U that still works and can still access the eShops, this is a flashing-red warning: Don’t wait until it’s too late. There’s a chance that certain third-party games will still go on sale, but that won’t be the case for others. When it comes to discounting their games in worthwhile fire sales, Sega truly does what Nintendon’t.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
