Nintendo to Shut Down 3DS and Wii U eShops in March 2023
Image Via: Nintendo Enthusiast
An end of an era is upon us. Nintendo recently announced that in March 2023, the eShop for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U will shut down and gamers will not be able to make purchases. The shops will be phased out over the next year with the inability to use your credit card to add funds to your account in these shops in May 2022 and via eShop Cards in August 2022. You can still add funds through a Nintendo Switch and use them on the 3DS and Wii U shops.
This means that I’ve got a year to decide what games I want on these systems and actually buy them now. It also means that the Virtual Console will officially be dead at this time which is a real bummer. It was great to grab the GBA Metroid titles leading up to Metroid Dread on my Wii U. Heck, Dread made those older games skyrocket in sales. I love Nintendo’s consoles and games and I want to have hope that they’ll bring these games to the Switch through Nintendo Switch Online or even as ports, but we all know that’s not likely. Hurry and grab your games and please leave suggestions for games available in these eShops in the comments below to help your fellow gamers out.
It should be noted that after March 2023, you can still redownload titles, receive software updates, and play online.
On a related note, Pokémon Bank will be made free-to-use after the eShops shut down, but you will need to download it before they shut down. Pokémon Bank is an online Pokémon storage service for the 3DS titles in the franchise so you could move your Pokémon between games as you needed. You need Pokémon Home to bring them to your Switch titles though.