Nintendo shuts down online services for Wii U and 3DS

Nintendo of America announced on October 3rd that they are ending online play and functionality for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U as of early April 2024. This announcement came through a tweet on Nintendo of Americas official X (former Twitter) account. See the tweet below:

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.

Find out more: https://t.co/nOyzBImHCE

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) October 4, 2023

The link inside the tweet takes you to the support page where there is a list of questions and answers:

• You will still be able to play games offline that does not require online communication.
• Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter will still be avaliable but may also end its services in the future.
• Online services from other publishers than Nintendo will also end but with a few exceptions.
• It will still be able to download update data and purchased software from Nintendo eShop.
• StreetPass will still be avaliable, but not SpotPass, since that uses online communication.

For the full list and more details, see the link here.

This clearly marks as a end of an era for both Wii U and 3DS, like a final nail to their coffins. Nintendo tried several times in the marketing campaign of the Switch to convince their customers that Switch would not replace the Wii U or 3DS. But only a few months in to Switch’s lifespan, production of Wii U and 3DS games decreased significantly until the production came to an halt all together.