Nintendo won’t allow online games purchase on Wii U and 3DS in 2023.

The company will gradually make adjustments up to the date of expiration.

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Nintendo is winding down new purchases on its Wii U and 3DS marketplaces.

The Nintendo Switch has been Nintendo’s central console for a long time. However, Nintendo has maintained its Wii U and Nintendo 3DS’s eShop accessible to those who want to purchase games for these platforms. In March 2023, however, it will no longer be the case. As a result, Nintendo will no longer allow purchases of Wii U or Nintendo 3DS. Wii U or Nintendo 3DS eShop “as of late March 2023,” the company announced on Tuesday.

Nintendo will gradually make adjustments to eShop purchases until the date:

• On the 23rd of May, 2022, you will not be permitted to use credit cards to transfer cash to an eShop account on Wii U or 3DS devices.
• On the 29th of August in 2022, you will not be able to utilize eShop gift cards to fund your accounts on these devices also.
• If you’ve downloaded any codes, you will not be able to redeem them in the months following late March 2023.
• You’ll be unable to make use of the money you have in the account of your Nintendo Wallet account (assuming you’ve linked the Nintendo Switch account with the older Nintendo Network ID account) to purchase Wii U and 3DS content until the end of March 2023.

Nintendo isn’t shutting everything completely on Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. “Even after late March 2023, and for the foreseeable future, it will still be possible to redownload games and DLC, receive software updates and enjoy online play on Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems,” Nintendo states. But demos and free-to-start software will not be available until the end of March 2023.

Nintendo has announced the changes both in the Americas as well as Japan.

In terms of why this is the case, Nintendo says that the wind-down is “part of the natural lifecycle for any product line as it becomes less used by consumers over time.” However, it is essential to be aware that these changes mean that you’ll only have a few days to purchase Virtual Console games on both platforms. Although Nintendo provides many of the most popular games in its Nintendo Switch Online subscription service, the selection is smaller than those available to purchase individually through the Virtual Console.

When Nintendo first released the article of support regarding the changes in the article, there was a section on the fact that “many classic games for past platforms will cease to be available for purchase anywhere.” The answer was Nintendo Switch Online which stated that “we currently have no plans to offer classic content in other ways.” However, the section was removed from the support page within a short time after it was published.