Over the holidays we’re reposting some select features from the past 12 months. A mix of talking points, interviews, opinions and more NL staff and associates, you’ll find our usual mix of thoughtfulness, expertise, frivolity, retro nostalgia, and — of course — enthusiasm for all things Nintendo. Happy Holidays!
Nintendo recently revealed its timetable for closing its digital storefronts for both the 3DS family of systems and the Wii U. Starting March 2023, you will not be able to purchase digital software of any kind from the 3DS and Wii U eShops, which includes digital versions of physical releases, digital-only games downloadable and all forms of DLC. Your want to be able to re-download items purchased before that date (just as you can still download previously purchased original Wii titles on that console) “for the foreseeable future,” but apparently that functionality will eventually be removed.
‘That’s the way things are’, you might think – ‘it could never last forever’. And while most of us can sit back and rationalize that, yes, of course digital services have a limited lifespan, not obviously we didn’t expect to be able to pick up our copy of Crimson Shroud again when we’re in the 90s, seeing digital store closures come so relatively soon after those e-stores first appeared is a bitter pill to swallow if you had any concerns about video preservation game.
Nintendo looks at the first 2 years as an indicator of when to start with a console
The fact is, however, that Nintendo — and all companies that operate similar stores that sell digital goods — plan controlled shutdowns of this kind many years in advance.
“Nintendo knows they have to support the product for at least 10 years or they risk a class action lawsuit,” a former Nintendo of America employee told us. The source, who wishes to remain anonymous, says Nintendo has been eyeing this shutdown for a long time, with the 10-year hiatus coming in November 2022, a decade after the Wii U’s launch. “Internal, NCL [Nintendo Co. Ltd, the main Japanese company of which NOA is a subsidiary] he’s been waiting for that day since 2014 based on sales… Nintendo is looking at the first 2 years as an indicator of when they’ll start packing it with the console.”
Nintendo’s failure to succinctly demonstrate the benefits and value of the GamePad controller’s asymmetrical gameplay—or to successfully differentiate the console from its predecessor in the eyes of the general public that was a key part of the Wii’s popularity—resulted in poor sales from the start. By 2014, it was clear that the concept just wasn’t hitting the mainstream and, according to our source, the company quickly pivoted and changed tactics internally.
“While working on the NX, you saw a test with amiibo and a bunch of weird apps that interacted with the ones on the Wii U. They’re all just busy filling the sales gap until the NX [Switch’s code name] would arrive. Same thing with mini consoles… panic products aimed at filling the NX gap for Christmas.”
While the NX was being worked on you saw a test with amiibo and a bunch of weird apps that interacted with the ones on the Wii U. They’re all just hustling to fill the sales gap… Same thing with the mini consoles
The relative commercial failure of the Wii U (13.56 million units did not nothingbut of its console line, only the Virtual Boy sold fewer units) caused company-wide headaches and supply problems that arose earlier in the console’s life cycle, especially when it came to repair parts.
“We started talking about Wii U repair and replacement numbers about a year before the Switch launch,” our source said. “NOA is almost out of optical drives for the repair/replacement program… and I think like 2016 you could see how many were left. NCL had a good supply, so they moved that inventory over to NOA so we could do repairs at least until Switch is on So EOL [End-Of-Life] program, at least for console, started before the launch of NX.”
This shutdown plan came just a few years after the ‘Wii U Upgrade Program’ was launched internally, which encouraged Wii owners to upgrade to the new console at a discount while NOA recycled the older console.
“In 2013, we were still doing Wii repairs and Nintendo was eating $7-10 per repair. In the spring of 2014, there was an employee meeting and they were looking for ideas from within for ideas to save or sell… This was around the time I started hearing inside jokes about ‘what are we going to upgrade them to when these Wii Ues are sent in for repair’.”
Asked about the overall end-of-life process and how long the ability to re-download previous purchases may remain in effect for the 3DS and Wii U, our source is not optimistic about that timeframe compared to Nintendo’s official “foreseeable future” line; predict a complete shutdown of services within just a few years. “They will notify in 2023 that the server will shut down after some time.” After that time, the suggestion is that online play, re-downloading purchased content, and everything else will disappear entirely. “People will 100% lose their games if something happens to their Wii U or the disc they have the games on.”
People will 100% lose their games if something happens to their Wii U or the disc they have the games on
The Wii hasn’t been a current Nintendo console for a decade, so it would be less surprising if Nintendo shut down the system’s download servers soon. The Wii U, however, was Nintendo’s primary home platform until the launch of the Switch nearly five years ago in March 2017, so the idea that access to re-download your digital library and play online could be removed as early as 2023/24. truly sobering.
We’ve reached out to Nintendo for comment regarding our source’s claims and the company’s plans for networks after March 2023. We were referred to the company Wii U & Nintendo 3DS eShop Discontinuation Support Pagewhich — as we mentioned earlier — states that online play, software updates and the ability to re-download previously purchased content will remain after the end of March 2023 “for the foreseeable future”:
For the foreseeable future, it will still be possible to redownload games and DLC, receive software updates, and enjoy online play on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS family of systems.
With specific reference to online gaming, the site also says there are “no plans for further changes at this time.”
“The discussions I’ve heard have been to pull the NNID bolt-on system and just use the Nintendo Account system,” says our former NOA source. In fact, it appears that the Nintendo Network ID system that was ditched for the Switch in favor of the new Nintendo Account system (but “intentionally plugged into the current system so they could at least connect wallets/payments and bring people into the Switch ecosystem” sooner”) may be more one reason for the company’s willingness to close sales windows and networks of the last generation console.
“They may change their minds about how and if they allow access to your purchased titles, but that system was such a mess to connect to Nintendo accounts that they could choose a service solution with some sort of ‘make the customer happy’ credit for the Switch.”
When you look at the relatively long life of the Wii Shop — which can still be accessed in 2022 to re-download purchased titles — we assumed it was simply due to the huge install base for the original Wii, which our source confirmed. “The Wii Shop was a pretty closed store environment and yes, the install base is still huge.”
Of course, those Wii purchases won’t be available for download again forever, and it’s not unrealistic to imagine Nintendo shutting down all of its older networks — Wii, Wii U, and 3DS — entirely in one fell swoop. The company knows as well as anyone how that news will go down with die-hard fans; from a PR perspective, it’s better to get everything out of the way at once than to present multiple targets for negative media and general player dissatisfaction.
Ah, who caresyou can cry — who even plays 3DS or Wii U online anymore? Well, maybe more people than you think. Former Nintendo Life video producer Jon Cartwright explored the online activity for both systems — the Wii U and december 20203DS in January 2021 — and found a surprisingly active player base for a number of online games. Admittedly, these tests were conducted while much of the world was staying home more than they otherwise might due to pandemic-related reasons, but there is clearly still player demand, however small, to keep these services active for as long as possible.
It’s not unrealistic to imagine Nintendo completely shutting down all of its older networks — Wii, Wii U and 3DS — in one fell swoop. The company is well aware of how this news will go down with die-hard fans
Ultimately, anyone who stops and considers the financial realities of maintaining servers and devoting resources to networks built for previous consoles — services that are actively used by only a small fraction of gamers — will see the writing on the wall here. It’s little consolation to enthusiasts like us, or preservationists, or young players in 5 or 10 years who may want to explore the libraries of these systems only to find them unavailable.
Many of the major 3DS and Wii U eShop games have received physical releases, but not all – not by a long shot. The price of a used 3DS has skyrocketed in recent years, with prices on auction sites reaching eye-watering levels, which is somewhat surprising for a system that has sold nearly 76 million units in its lifetime. However, if you want a nice clean one, you can expect to pay hundreds. On the other hand, there are fewer than 14 million Wii Us in the wild, and a much smaller number with copies of Affordable Space Adventures on them. Subtract from that imagine the hard drive damage, crashes and data loss these systems will inevitably encounter in the future and…well, you can see why people are so passionate about this topic.
Our advice? We definitely recommend backing up your hard drives if you have them and getting your personal 3DS/Wii In fact in order while you still can. It’s easy to get up in arms and it’s melodramatic – and we want to encourage calm heads and calm conversation – but the clock is absolutely ticking.
