Nintendo Announces Final Date for 3DS and Wii U eShop Purchases

By Rollin Bishop

In case you previously missed it, Nintendo is shutting down its eShop for the Nintendo Wii U and Nintendo 3DS systems. This was previously announced and has already come to pass in part. Users on both systems are no longer able to add funds from credits, and as of August 29th, Nintendo eShop Cards will no longer be able to add funds to an account on the Wii U or Nintendo 3DS. Purchases, in general, will remain available until late March 2023, however, but now Nintendo has confirmed exactly when that will stop being supported as well.

More specifically, it will no longer be possible to purchase digital goods through the Nintendo eShop on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS series of systems as of March 27, 2023. If there's anything remaining that folks want to digitally and legally pick up for them before then, time is running out considering funds won't be able to be added at all after August 29th. That said, players with a Nintendo Network ID wallet (Wii U, Nintendo 3DS) as well as a Nintendo Account wallet (Nintendo Switch) can link the two to continue using shared funds until the final date in March.

You can check out the new announcement from Nintendo for yourself below:

Additionally, and somewhat unusually, it would appear that the Nintendo 3DS video game Fire Emblem Fates is actually going to call it a bit earlier than the rest. According to today's announcement, Fire Emblem Fates itself will no longer be purchasable digitally as of February 28, 2023. DLC for the video game will remain available for purchase until March 27, 2023. No explicit reason was given for the earlier date that Fire Emblem Fates sales are ending.

As noted above, as of March 27, 2023, purchases will no longer be available via the eShop on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Additionally, and as previously announced, funds will no longer be able to be added as of August 29th. According to Nintendo, "for the foreseeable future, it will still be possible to redownload games and DLC, receive software updates and enjoy online play on Wii U consoles and Nintendo 3DS systems." You can check out all of our previous coverage of Nintendo in general right here.

What do you think about Nintendo ending support for eShop purchases for the Nintendo Wii U and Nintendo 3DS systems? Is there anything you are looking to pick up before support disappears? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop in order to talk about all things gaming!

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