When will Nintendo fully shutdown Wii Shop Channel?

[WiiWare_lover]

Currently, they only removed the ability to get/purchase new games AND to get Wii Points. U still can go to the Wii shop, hear music, flex the games u have on it, redownload and buy Zelda thing, Wii u transfer tool (and its vWii version in vWii) and maybe Wii Speak.
Will Nintendo shutdown the whole server so u cannot even enter the Wii shop? Or wont they because it is just a website and it doesn't take server capacity?

I am scared that people will somehow hack Wii Shop Accounts in future.

What do you think?

 

[Captain-Z]

It will be shutdown someday because it does have a maintenance cost. Don't know when, but 20 years after the Wii's launch wouldn't be too surprising.

Also, no, your Wii Shop Channel can't be hacked since it's tied to your Wii. If Nintendo's Wii servers ever did get hacked all they would find would be your Wii's serial number and a list of games you've purchased from it. Nothing I would call sensitive information.

 

[WiiWare_lover]

It will be shutdown someday because it does have a maintenance cost. Don't know when, but 20 years after the Wii's launch wouldn't be too surprising.

Also, no, your Wii Shop Channel can't be hacked since it's tied to your Wii. If Nintendo's Wii servers ever did get hacked all they would find would be your Wii's serial number and a list of games you've purchased from it. Nothing I would call sensitive information.

But if hacked they can delete the Account. Also why will Nintendo shutdown? It isn't hard to pay a bit for a big company.

 

[Captain-Z]

But if hacked they can delete the Account. Also why will Nintendo shutdown? It isn't hard to pay a bit for a big company.

I guess they could delete the list of games associated with your Wii, but that doesn't seem like it would be very hard for Nintendo to restore. I seriously wouldn't worry about that.

As for the cost, it actually costs a lot more to keep something like that running than you might think. It's not about being a big company. It's based on old technology that only gets harder to maintain as time goes on do to incompatibly with newer systems. Not to mention that the number of people who actually know how to maintain it dwindles every year. At a certain point continuing it will simply no longer be possible.

 

[WiiWare_lover]

I guess they could delete the list of games associated with your Wii, but that doesn't seem like it would be very hard for Nintendo to restore. I seriously wouldn't worry about that.

As for the cost, it actually costs a lot more to keep something like that running than you might think. It's not about being a big company. It's based on old technology that only gets harder to maintain as time goes on do to incompatibly with newer systems. Not to mention that the number of people who actually know how to maintain it dwindles every year. At a certain point continuing it will simply no longer be possible.

Well, it seems like they update it because u know what happened 2022. Still sad actually. Hopefully it will live atleast 2050 (ik it is stupid and will probably be lower)

Post automatically merged: May 28, 2025

Well, it seems like they update it because u know what happened 2022. Still sad actually. Hopefully it will live atleast 2050 (ik it is stupid and will probably be lower)

There is also Zelda Save Data Update servers, Nintendo WIi update Servers (which were also down 2022) and the Wii U transfer tool. They can discontinue them but I would still let the Wii have NUS and Wii shop alive. They can also remove those 2 channels and creating new Wii Shop Accounts. But ofc there is sadly no way Nintendo will keep these alive for very long and probably will discontinue them at the same time. I dont want to be a stupid kid.

 

[WiiWare_lover]

I guess they could delete the list of games associated with your Wii, but that doesn't seem like it would be very hard for Nintendo to restore. I seriously wouldn't worry about that.

As for the cost, it actually costs a lot more to keep something like that running than you might think. It's not about being a big company. It's based on old technology that only gets harder to maintain as time goes on do to incompatibly with newer systems. Not to mention that the number of people who actually know how to maintain it dwindles every year. At a certain point continuing it will simply no longer be possible.

Ok but does it really make a difference, by just keeping the servers and never shutting down? I mean, the games are still on NUS and that means, it doesn't make any difference with the server cost. Or do the payement servers make a difference?

 

[Captain-Z]

Ok but does it really make a difference, by just keeping the servers and never shutting down? I mean, the games are still on NUS and that means, it doesn't make any difference with the server cost. Or do the payement servers make a difference?

The way the Wii connects to Nintendo's servers is very different than the way the Switch does. It all just boils down to requiring more resources to maintain than it's worth.

 

[WiiWare_lover]

The way the Wii connects to Nintendo's servers is very different than the way the Switch does. It all just boils down to requiring more resources to maintain than it's worth.

But they only removed the ability to get stuff, the Softwares and games are still on the servers. They just made, that u need the ticket to redownload it. Does that really lower the cost for servers?

 

[Captain-Z]

But they only removed the ability to get stuff, the Softwares and games are still on the servers. They just made, that u need the ticket to redownload it. Does that really lower the cost for servers?

Not yet, no. They're ramping it down slowly instead of all at once to help customers mentally prepare and shift hem away from the service. They don't want to deal with negative PR.

 

[WiiWare_lover]

Not yet, no. They're ramping it down slowly instead of all at once to help customers mentally prepare and shift hem away from the service. They don't want to deal with negative PR.

uhm, they said, they are shutting it down 2019 but they didn't. 8 years after announcement and no new announcement they will close it fully.

 

[Captain-Z]

uhm, they said, they are shutting it down 2019 but they didn't. 8 years after announcement and no new announcement they will close it fully.

No, in 2019 they said most functionality would be discontinued but re- downloads still would be available for the time being but would eventually end as well. Nothing new has been announced since then.

https://en-americas-support.nintend...a_id/27560/~/wii-shop-channel-discontinuation

 

[WiiWare_lover]

No, in 2019 they said most functionality would be discontinued but re- downloads still would be available for the time being but would eventually end as well. Nothing new has been announced since then.

https://en-americas-support.nintend...a_id/27560/~/wii-shop-channel-discontinuation

yes their website was the only thing, where they said, it won't fully shutdown in 2019. But in other pages e.g the Wii Shop in Important info it says, it will close fully. Only their american support site says, it wont fully close for some reasson.

 

[Captain-Z]

yes their website was the only thing, where they said, it won't fully shutdown in 2019. But in other pages e.g the Wii Shop in Important info it says, it will close fully. Only their american support site says, it wont fully close for some reasson.

Odd. I'm not familiar with what others regions have announced, but I think it's safe to say they're all following the same schedule, considering they all likely use the same servers.

EDIT:
I just checked and it does seems that both Nintendo's UK and German websites indicate full shutdown would happen in 2019.

https://www-nintendo-com.translate....uto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

https://www.nintendo.com/de-de/News...-Schliessung-des-Wii-Shop-Kanals-1285994.html

I don't know why this is, but I would just assume things will stay as is until any further announcements are made.

 

[WiiWare_lover]

Do you think, nintendo tried to sh

Odd. I'm not familiar with what others regions have announced, but I think it's safe to say they're all following the same schedule, considering they all likely use the same servers.

EDIT:
I just checked and it does seems that both Nintendo's UK and German websites indicate full shutdown would happen in 2019.

https://www-nintendo-com.translate....uto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

https://www.nintendo.com/de-de/News...-Schliessung-des-Wii-Shop-Kanals-1285994.html

I don't know why this is, but I would just assume things will stay as is until any further announcements are made.

ut them down in 2022 because there was "maintenance".

 

[Captain-Z]

Do you think, nintendo tried to sh

ut them down in 2022 because there was "maintenance".

No, service disruptions aren't usual, but I think the fact it took so long to fix does demonstrates how few resources they have for it at this point.

 

[WiiWare_lover]

No, service disruptions aren't usual, but I think the fact it took so long to fix does demonstrates how few resources they have for it at this point.

I found a thread why the Wii Shop closed: https://gbatemp.net/threads/why-is-...if-you-can-still-redownload-purchases.673396/