for the 3DS and Wii U eShops will end in 2023, Nintendo Switch's eShop infrastructure, and the 3DS and Wii systems will still retain their online functionality for the foreseeable future.
The Nintendo 3DS only managed to sell half of the units of its predecessor, but it was still an important system for a number of reasons. The failure of the Wii U to find an audience meant that the 3DS propped Nintendo up for years. The 3DS hosted a number of popular Pokémon games, brought the Super Smash Bros. franchise to handhelds, and dragged Nintendo into the digital age in a way that the DS/Wii never did. All good things must come to an end, and for the 3DS/Wii U, that end was the Switch. As of Nintendo's most recent financial report, the Switch has outsold the Wii and PS1, making it one of Nintendo's best-selling systems of all time. The runaway momentum of the Switch left the 3DS and the Wii U in the dust, and it was only a matter of time before Nintendo started clo shop for those systems.
Nintendo has laid out the schedule for the end of the 3DS/Wii U eShops in a post on the official Nintendo of America Twitter page, which is further explained on the official Nintendo website. The 3DS/Wii U eShops will gradually lose over the next year, preventing people from being able to purchase games (including free ones) and adding currency to their s. The eShops will officially close sometime in late March, 2023, when "it will no longer be possible to make Nintendo eShop purchases fo the Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems."
It bears mentioning that these systems will still have online play for the foreseeable future. A lot of people still use Pokémon Home to export 3DS-era Pokémon to the other Pokémon games, so there's value in keeping those services alive. The schedule laid out by Nintendo says that fans won't be able to add currency to their 3DS/Wii U s starting May 23, and Nintendo eShop Cards can no longer be used on August 29. People can link their old s to their Switch, in order to move their currency to that system. It's expected that people will still be able to re the games they already own, even after the eShops have closed down.
The success of the Switch (and the fact that most of the Wii U's best games were ported to the system) means that the era of the 3DS and Wii U is coming to an end. There have been a number of rumors regarding the 3DS and Wii U eShops shutting down, so this announcement isn't a big surprise. Fans have a little over a year to make their plans and buy the remaining games they want, before they can no longer add money to their s.
The 3DS and Wii U Nintendo eShop will shut down in March 2023.
Source: Nintendo of America/Twitter, Nintendo
