While Nintendo is predominantly focused on Switch right now, the company still allowed for third party support of its Wii U and 3DS systems. It seems, however, that might be coming to an end in the near future. According to an email obtained by Impact Game Station, Nintendo of Europe has informed developers that it will no longer be accepting any new submissions for games on either platform at the end of the current fiscal year, which is set to conclude on April 1, 2022. According to the email, “these new titles should be lotcheck approved latest within 3 months after the submission deadline.”
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As of this writing, this is just a rumor, so readers should take this with a grain of salt. However, it would not be a surprise to see Nintendo ending support for the two platforms. By April 2022, the Nintendo Switch will have been available for more than five years, which is a very long amount of time for a video game console. While the 3DS was a strong seller for Nintendo, it stands to reason that most users have probably purchased a Switch at this point, and supporting the two consoles is more trouble than it’s worth. According to Nintendo Everything, just seven games have released on 3DS this year, and one on Wii U. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing how many times these games have been downloaded, but it stands to reason that more games would come to these platforms if new games were selling well!
In addition to this rumor, there are also rumors that Nintendo will be ending support for both the 3DS and Wii U eShops. That would be a much bigger deal than ending support for new games, as it would mean that fans would no longer be able to purchase new titles on either platform. That is also just a rumor at this time, but fans are understandably worried about this type of thing, and what it means for video game preservation. Hopefully, Nintendo will offer some definitive answers on all of these questions in the near future!
Have you been buying new games on the 3DS or Wii U? Are you surprised that Nintendo might no longer offer new games on these systems? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!
