Vortex Gaming

Online play for the 3DS, which was announced to be phased out after the eShop closure, will end on April 9th at 9 AM.

Nintendo announced a Nintendo Network maintenance scheduled for 5 AM on the 9th through its official SNS on the 8th. The maintenance is scheduled for 4 hours until 9 AM. From 9 AM, when the maintenance ends, online services for the 3DS and Wii U, which was not officially released in Korea, will be terminated.

Nintendo announced the end of the online play service in April 2024 last October, and added details through a notification update in January. Since the Wii U has not been officially released in Korea, only the 3DS online service will be terminated.

After the maintenance on this day, most of the play through internet communication will be suspended.

However, game play that does not use internet communication, and StreetPass communication that communicates between devices, can still be used even after the service ends. SpotPass cannot be used because it uses the internet.

Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter, which help manage and link Pokémon, use the internet, but can still be used even after the service ends. It seems that the service will not be suspended immediately as it helps manage Pokémon between series. However, Nintendo said that there is a possibility that the service will be terminated in the long term.

Nintendo announced that even after the eShop closure and the end of the online play service, update data downloads and re-downloads of purchased software and content will continue to be available. However, it also said that this will be terminated in the long term, like Pokémon-related services.

Nintendo has repeatedly revealed that it may completely shut down online services for the 3DS and Wii U in the long term.

Last March, Nintendo posted an official advertisement for the Nintendo Switch in the spring of 2024. In the advertisement, which featured a brother and sister enjoying Nintendo games together, Nintendo portrayed the 3DS as a game console filled with past memories. It can be seen that Nintendo hinted at the definite retirement of the 3DS.

The Nintendo Switch is a hybrid device that combines Nintendo's console lineup, which was divided into portable and stationary. Among these, the Nintendo 3DS is the console of the previous generation to the Switch in the portable line. However, the Nintendo Switch was released in 2017 and is already in its 8th year. As it is the previous generation, the Nintendo 3DS was released in 2011, and the improved version, the New Nintendo 3DS, was released in 2014.

Nintendo previously closed the eShop, and announced the sequential termination of services for the 3DS and Wii U. At the time of the eShop closure announcement, fans protested against the fact that new online game purchases were blocked, including Virtual Console titles and DSiWare.

Sony has had a similar experience. Prior to Nintendo, Sony announced the suspension and closure of PS Store support for older models such as PS3, PS Vita, and PSP. However, due to user backlash, it canceled this, and the PS3 and PS Vita stores were withdrawn from the closure decision, except for the PSP. However, Nintendo is enforcing the eShop closure in a similar situation, and is now ending online services.

A company that is streamlining businesses that are unprofitable and burdensome to operate. Removing various purchase methods and reducing services for the consoles they own. Conflicts between users and game companies over the closure of online stores are expected to continue every time a generation changes.

웹진 인벤강승진 기자
2024-04-08