Nintendo has announced an extended grace period for players to download WiiU and 3DS games following the eShop’s closure on those consoles.
For those who haven’t heard, Nintendo announced that the 3DS and WiiU eShops would permanently close down on March 27, 2023, meaning players would no longer be able to purchase new digital games on those consoles.
Ahead of the closer, fans scrambled to make sure they could download games before the deadline, with one YouTuber even downloading the entire catalog of each system before the end date.
Now, Nintendo has announced a final grace period to redeem download codes for 3DS and WiiU games following an error that shut down the service early.
Nintendo extends download period for 3DS and WiiU
The announcement came from Nintendo’s Japanese Twitter account, which roughly translated to: “…After 00:00 on March 28 (Tue), it was not possible to redeem the download number earlier than the scheduled time, so we have extended the redemption until 13:30 on April 4 (Tue). Please redeem it again from the Nintendo 3DS/Wii U eShop. We apologize for the inconvenience.
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なお、3/28（火）0時以降、予定時刻よりも早く「ダウンロード番号の引き換え」ができない状況になっておりましたため、4/4（火）13時30分まで引き換えを延長しました。ニンテンドー3DS/Wii Uのeショップから再度引き換えいただきますようお願いします。ご迷惑をおかけし誠に申し訳ございませんでした。
— 任天堂サポート (@nintendo_cs) March 28, 2023
To clarify, this does not mean the lifespan of the service has been extended for a certain period of time. As of March 27, 2023, the eShop on both consoles is permanently discontinued.
However, those players who had redeemable codes to download digital games will now have until Tuesday, April 4, 2023, at 12:30 AM EST / 5:30 BST or April 3 at 9:30 PM PST to redeem any digital codes.
It’s also worth noting that this extension period does not include the ability to redeem prepaid eShop cards to add additional funds to player’s accounts, as this function has not been available for some time.
While players can still redownload any digital games on both WiiU and 3DS for the foreseeable future, it will no longer be possible to purchase new digital games through the storefront.