Nintendo confirmed that it will comprehensively shut down online services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U games in April 2024, exactly one year after shutting down the Nintendo eShop on those systems.
This resulted in most online services being disabled for those platforms. Revealed on X (formerly Twitter) and Nintendo’s support site early Wednesday. “Beginning in April 2024, online communication and other functionality that utilizes online communication will be retired for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software. This also includes online cooperative play, Internet ranking and data distribution,” the message says. “We will announce a specific closing date and time later. Please note that if an event occurs that would make it difficult for online services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software to continue, we may have to shut down services earlier than planned. We sincerely thank players for using the online services of Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software for a long time and apologize for any inconvenience.
Essentially, this means that after April 2024, you won’t be able to use any online features in the 3DS Pokémon games or things like that. Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U now and. Nintendo stated in the Q&A section of its support article that for the near future people will still be able to play games offline and re-download updates and games from the Nintendo eShop. pokemon bank Will be unaffected, so it will still be possible to move Pokémon Ruby And sapphire in all respects pokemon home, However, SpotPass support and other online-focused applications like nintendo badge arcade Will stop working completely.
Just as the closure of the Wii U and 3DS eShop caused an uproar earlier this year, this move is a blow to game preservation and will forever harm some games that are not available anywhere else. While it’s understandable that Nintendo wants to move on from the legacy online infrastructure of these systems, it’s still a disappointing move for those of us who have spent a lot of time playing offline and online games on these systems.