Nintendo: Online services for 3DS and Wii U will be disabled from 2023

Last year, Nintendo announced that it would discontinue online services for 3DS and Wii U in April 2024 – a specific date has now been announced.

“As of April 8, 2024, online play and other online features will no longer be supported on Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software,” it said in a statement. The closure affects services such as online co-op game modes, online leaderboards and data sharing.

However, games and updates that have already been purchased can still be downloaded after the shutdown, Nintendo writes. It is also still possible to use titles and their features and game modes offline, where no data is exchanged over the Internet.

Pokémon Bank can still be used

One game is unaffected by the service shutdown: Pokémon Bank. The 3DS title allows trained Pokémon from games to be stored in so-called boxes for use in other titles.

However, Nintendo points out that this service could also be discontinued “at a later date.”

The Wii U was launched by Nintendo in 2012 – on November 18 at the same time in Europe and the US. The console was also released in Japan in December.

The Wii U gaming console was a failure

With almost 14 million copies sold, the console became a flop for Nintendo. By comparison, the company sold almost 100 million copies of its predecessor, the Wii.

Nintendo launched the mobile 3DS in the spring of 2011 and sold approximately 19 million units. In September 2020, the Japanese manufacturer announced that it would no longer produce the console.

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