It's time to get your Nintendo Wii U and 3DS downloads squared away for good, as the eShop for those platforms will be going offline soon, in certain regions. On July 31st, users in 42 different countries across Latin America and the Caribbean will no longer be able to use the 3DS or Wii U eShop. It should be noted that these regions never had a typical Nintendo eShop, as they were referred to as "Limited Nintendo eShops", only offering game voucher redemptions as opposed to other regions where the eShop is a full digital storefront. This means that after the aforementioned date, redeeming download codes for Nintendo titles will no longer be an option, nor will downloading updates for games or system software, or even redownloading games you already own.

Nintendo recommends that you download all software and updates that you wish to keep prior to the deactivation date on July 31, and that you redeem your leftover game codes before it's too late. The following countries are the ones affected by this announcement: Anguilla, Antigua/Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Cost Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent/Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands, Uruguay, Venezuela.

Those in Mexico or Brazil will not be affected and are an exception, as they offer their own regular Nintendo eShop service and not a "limited" version.

In certain Latin American and Caribbean countries, limited Nintendo eShops for the Wii U system and Nintendo 3DS family of systems have provided a few basic functions, such as game code redemption. Those limited Nintendo eShops will close on July 31, 2020 and users in the affected regions will no longer be able to access them to redeem a download code, redownload software or update software, so we encourage users to take any such actions before the closure date. Also, any software that requires the limited Nintendo eShops to operate may cease to function. (Note that Mexico and Brazil will not be affected.) We thank everyone for using the limited Nintendo eShops and for being such great fans of Nintendo.

What to do
We recommend that you take the following action on your Nintendo 3DS or Wii U before the closure date of July 31, 2020:

• Redownload any previously-downloaded software from the Nintendo eShop
  • Nintendo 3DS
  • Wii U
• Check the Nintendo eShop for any available updates to software you own
  • Nintendo 3DS
  • Wii U
• Redeem any download codes you have that have not yet been redeemed
  • Nintendo 3DS
  • Wii U

FAQ

• What do I do with any codes I haven't yet redeemed?
• Why are the limited Nintendo eShops closing?
• Which regions are affected by this?
• Why aren’t Mexico and Brazil affected?
• Will you also be closing any limited Nintendo eShops for the Nintendo Switch system?
• Do you plan to open full Nintendo eShops for any Nintendo systems in the affected regions?

What do I do with any codes I haven't yet redeemed?
We encourage anyone with unredeemed codes to redeem them before the limited Nintendo eShops close on July 31, 2020. After that, it will not be possible to redeem any codes.

Why are the limited Nintendo eShops closing?
We constantly re-evaluate our business and make decisions based on a variety of factors.

Which regions are affected by this?
The following regions will be affected by this: Anguilla, Antigua/Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Cost Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent/Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands, Uruguay, Venezuela.

Why aren’t Mexico and Brazil affected?
Mexico has a full Nintendo eShop, and those are not affected by the closure of limited Nintendo eShops. Brazil has a full Nintendo eShop for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems and has neither a full nor limited Nintendo eShop for the Wii U system.

Will you also be closing any limited Nintendo eShops for the Nintendo Switch system?
The closures only affect limited Nintendo eShops for the Wii U system and Nintendo 3DS family of systems in the affected regions. No limited or full Nintendo eShops for the Nintendo Switch system will be affected.

Do you plan to open full Nintendo eShops for any Nintendo systems in the affected regions?
We have nothing to announce on this topic.

Source

 

[Zense]

how
i want to actually use miiverse

https://discord.gg/6TUYMUE

 

[eriol33]

Wow that sounds really bad, I pity OFW users.

 

[Teletron1]

For Sony and MS, assuming nothing extraordinarily drastic happens to either company you can expect their online storefronts to last basically until we're all dead from covid19 really. Nintendo is the only company of the big three that pulls this kind of shit, and I don't expect that to change any time soon.

Sony, on the other hand, still has PSN running for the PS3, a 14 year old console way past it's EoL, and still supports digital purchases and downloads for the PSP, a 15 year old handheld, and they've made 0 announcements or moves to discontinue it (mostly because all the Sony consoles still use basically the same servers as before). Same thing for MS and the 360, which is even better off since MS has plans to continue supporting BC directly on console.

Third party online games will definitely go down eventually, and so will any games that use third party online services, but so long as those games/services are popular there will be people who create private servers and workarounds so people can continue playing those games.

well Microsoft has the massive server systems out of the 3 ,Sony invested heavily with Ps Tv but are phasing out and Sony and Nintendo are in talks to share servers with Microsoft so who knows what the future holds but Microsoft was talking about Digital Locker like UV/MA where you buy the game once and those rights transfer to any system that has the game ,as much as I like my physical like movies eventually space becomes and issue

 

[Codemastershock]

, and still supports digital purchases and downloads for the PSP, a 15 year old handheld, and they've made 0 announcements or moves to discontinue it.

Yeah, but at the same time, you can only retrieve PSP purchases using especifically the PS3, not the PS4. They didnt discontinued it, but made extremely cumbersome, dont know why. The PSP GO at least had a Windows client, but I dont know if it still works.

I think the 360 marketplace has better chances of staying because of retrocompatibility and now everything runs through virtualized servers on Microsoft (even the console itself), there is no thing such as reserving server space and infrastructure for a legacy console, it is just invoked and use resources if needed, the PS3 dont know why but it is cool how they are keeping the infrastructure still alive.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Yeah, but at the same time, you can only retrieve PSP purchases using especifically the PS3, not the PS4. They didnt discontinued it, but made extremely cumbersome, dont know why. The PSP GO at least had a Windows client, but I dont know if it still works.

That's not true. You can still access game store pages on the PSP (even though the store itself is closed) to download games you own via the download list directly on the PSP.

 

[DJPlace]

That's not true. You can still access game store pages on the PSP (even though the store itself is closed) to download games you own via the download list directly on the PSP.

you can use the PSN store also.

still this is bad news for people for those region's

 

[Stealphie]

you can use the PSN store also.

still this is bad news for people for those region's

I mean, you could try to format your system to change the system's region? It's still bad because formatting just to change an account region is dumb.

 

[Kwyjor]

Nintendo is still manufacturing new 2DS units at least, aren't they? I can't see them shutting down the eShop elsewhere anytime soon - inevitable though it may be.

 

[Kioku]

It's a good thing both these consoles are cracked wide open

Stupid on Nintendo's part to remove any legitimate means of purchasing these games digitally

If they offered some sort of unified servers like their green and blue counterparts, they wouldn't have to shut them down. Oh well...

 

[wonkeytonk]

I still wish they would keep the DS and Wii wi-fi networks up

 

[Stealphie]

I still wish they would keep the DS and Wii wi-fi networks up

use Wimmfi

 

[HideoKojima]

That's a sign that a new console is in the making

 

[mathew77]

That's a sign that a new console is in the making

But there's a Switch hangin' around.

 

[Spider_Man]

This is why you should never invest in digital because greedy lazy feckers like nintendont will pull the plug at any given time to save dollar.

 

[Arras]

Those consoles both use NNIDs, the thing that recently caused the massive nintendo account hack issue. Wouldn't surprise me if they're closing the stores just as a way to get rid of that security problem.

 

[BaamAlex]

i hope that there will be a service like wimmfi but for WiiU/3DS

If the traffic isn't encrypted, then it is possible. But bad news for you, the traffic on the wii u is encrypted.

 

[HarveyHouston]

Doom is nigh for the Wii U and 3DS eShops in all regions. Hopefully, Nintendo has a backup plan for downloadable games on those platforms, else people will be hacking those consoles and adding them via other means. Having been a long-time 3DS user, I would be sad to see this go.

 

[MiiJack]

Those "limited Nintendo eshop" were, well, limited. I once changed the region (out of curiosity) on my 3ds, accessed eshop, only to be greeted with nothing. There should only be like 5 (major) regions options. Maybe they did this to ease their almost non-existent servers.

 

[|<roni&g]

They better not switch off the multiplayer servers on either console.

 

[pedro702]

For Sony and MS, assuming nothing extraordinarily drastic happens to either company you can expect their online storefronts to last basically until we're all dead from covid19 really. Nintendo is the only company of the big three that pulls this kind of shit, and I don't expect that to change any time soon.

Sony, on the other hand, still has PSN running for the PS3, a 14 year old console way past it's EoL, and still supports digital purchases and downloads for the PSP, a 15 year old handheld, and they've made 0 announcements or moves to discontinue it (mostly because all the Sony consoles still use basically the same servers as before). Same thing for MS and the 360, which is even better off since MS has plans to continue supporting BC directly on console.

Third party online games will definitely go down eventually, and so will any games that use third party online services, but so long as those games/services are popular there will be people who create private servers and workarounds so people can continue playing those games.

preety sure microsoft closed the original xbox shop so no more dlc can be bought for original xbox games from afew years ago, since sony never had a ps2 psn they obviously didnt close what they never had, i can see sony closing ps3 store soonish becuase they want you to pay for psnow for ps3 games and so on, and when ps3 digital revenue starts being way less than what they pay for serves they will close it for sure.

microsoft and the x360 store i dont know, becuase they want backwards compatibility thing so no idea, but yeah i predict sony to pull the plug on ps3 store in 1 or 2 years and maybe the vita one too.