Nintendo’s North American branch announced it is closing the 3DS and Wii U eShop in late March 2023. Users will no longer be able to make purchases or download free demos from the store. The company will also cease support for credit card transactions and the use of Nintendo eShop Cards. It also opened a My 3DS & Wii U Memories site.
As of late March 2023, it will no longer be possible to make Nintendo eShop purchases for the Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.
More info: https://t.co/uGoxCcDZ70
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 16, 2022
The Nintendo support site offered the following reason for the shutdown.
This is part of the natural lifecycle for any product line as it becomes less used by consumers over time.
Earlier in 2022, Nintendo ended support for credit card payments in the Japanese eShop.
As of May 23, 2022, regions will also no longer be able to use credit cards to purchase games in the store. Furthermore, the Nintendo eShop Card will also no longer be supported starting August 29, 2022. After that, the only way to purchase games will be to link your Nintendo Network ID wallet to your Nintendo Account. By doing so, players will be able to make purchases using the shared balance.
It will still be possible to re-download games and DLC that you already own as well as download software updates, even though the 3DS and Wii U eShop will be closing. A handful of free themes will also be available in the 3DS Theme Shop after the shutdown. It also will not affect online play. However, users who wish to purchase or download new games must do so by March 2023.
As for the Nintendo the My 3DS & Wii U Memories website, it is dedicated to tracking all of your 3DS and Wii U gaming statistics. By logging into your Nintendo account through the site, players can choose to see their most played games ranging from 2011 to 2020. The site shows a person their total Wii U play time and number of games played. It also offers a graph with your most played genres. The three most-played titles will be listed too. Likewise, the 3DS section shares the same data.
The Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShop will be closing in late March 2023. Credit card support will also end on May 23, 2022, followed by Nintendo eShop Cards on August 29, 2022.
