Two Nintendo Switch Games Shut Down and Now Completely Unplayable

August 9, 2026, 9:55am

Not one, but two Nintendo Switch games have shut down and are now completely unplayable, and both are noteworthy games, though they have both been delisted for a while. One of the two Nintendo Switch games is online only. The other has offline play, but will be completely inaccessible nonetheless. In the case of the former, this is disappointing, but not too bad because it was and is a free-to-play game. The other costs $30 on Nintendo Switch, and those who bought it will not be getting a refund, despite no longer being able to play it.

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One of these games is Aliens: Fireteam Elite, a Left 4 Dead-inspired third-person shooter released by Cold Iron Studio in 2021. That said, it didn’t come to Nintendo Switch until 2023, and it arrived as a Cloud game. And this is why the servers going down also render the single-player content inaccessible. It’s offline on other platforms, but not on Nintendo Switch. Meanwhile, the timing of this delisting is not great because Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is set to release on August 25. Its included platforms include Nintendo Switch 2, but th e Switch 2 version won’t be ready at launch. The other shutdown Nintendo Switch game is Apex Legends, a free-to-play hero battle royale game, which was released in 2019 by developer Respawn Entertainment and publisher EA. It came to Nintendo Switch in 2021, and it’s an online competitive multiplayer game, so its servers going down render it a dud. The game is available on Nintendo Switch 2, though, and this version remains live.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite

Aliens: Fireteam Elite has been delisted on the Nintendo eShop since March of this year, but only now has it been shut down. Back when it released, Aliens: Fireteam Elite — which picks up about 23 years after Alien 3 — was not that well received, as evidenced by its 69 on Metacritic. It sold appreciably, though, no doubt partially because of the IP, but also because online co-op shooters often sell pretty well. And for what it is worth, its user review scores across the Internet are a bit higher than its critics’ score. To this end, it has an 82 rating on Steam.

Apex Legends

Apex Legends released during the peak of the battle royale trend, and was able to capitalize on it. To this end, it was one of the biggest games of the previous generation and one of the most popular multiplayer games ever released. It’s not as relevant in 2026, but it’s still going strong. And not only is it popular, but well regarded, as evidenced by its 89 on Metacritic.

While Apex Legends is free-to-play, it does have, and encourage, in-game spending. So some, if not most, Nintendo Switch users will have money sunk into the game that they won’t be getting back. They will be able to carry this progress over into the Nintendo Switch 2 version, though.