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Nintendo has announced it will close down most of its online services for its 3DS portable console and the Wii U console. It had previously closed the Nintendo eShop online store for those consoles in March 2023.

The company says it will reveal a more specific date for the online services shutdown in the near future. However, it adds that "we may have to discontinue services earlier than planned" if some kind of event happens that would make it hard to continue running those online services.

Nintendo added:

We sincerely thank players for using the online services of Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software over a long period of time and apologize for any inconvenience.

The Nintendo 3DS console first launched in February 2011 in Japan, and it was discontinued in 2020. The Wii U launched in November 2012 in the US and Europe, but the console was a major sales flop, and it was discontinued in 2016.

In its announcement today, Nintendo confirmed that 3DS and Wii U owners will still be able to play games that don't require online services on those consoles. Owners will also still be able to redownload games they have previously purchased from the now-closed eShop, along with other downloadable content, "for the foreseeable future."

There will be one exception to this shutdown. Pokémon Bank, which lets players "deposit, store, and manage your Pokémon in private Boxes on the internet" will continue to be available for 3DS and Wii U owners after April 2024. Nintendo did add "that may also end at some point in the future."

This new announcement comes after Microsoft revealed it will be closing the Xbox 360 online store on July 29, 2024. It's possible that over 220 Xbox 360 games could disappear forever as a result of the upcoming shutdown of the store.

Yeah, I'm backing up everything now just in case. Also ran into a weird issue with 3ds Max where thumbnails wouldn’t show up in Explorer. Found this page that helped: https://www.blueberry-ai.com/blog/3ds-max-thumbnail-preview-not-visible-in-windows-explorer-fs5lp. Thought I’d throw it in here in case anyone else is cleaning up their files and stumbles on the same thing.