It’s official. The Nintendo Wii Shop Channel is now shutting down after a very lengthy venture. Having been available for well over a decade now and surviving two generations, the online store will be turning off its servers. But don’t worry, it won’t be happening until the 31st of January, 2019.
Current owners of the Wii and Wii U will still be able to add Wii points until the 27th of March, 2018. Along with that, any Wiiware and Virtual Console titles that have been purchased beforehand will still be available for download until 2019.
Having opened its doors back in 2006, after the release of the Nintendo Wii, the Shop Channel has been consistently pumping out Nintendo Indie games for well over a decade. Along with the ever popular Virtual Console, which gave gamers a blast from the past with retro games from the NES to the Gamecube, it has been a staple for Nintendo’s online gaming.
Regarding the closure of the Channel, Nintendo released the following statement:
“In 2019, we will close the Wii Shop Channel used on Wii and Wii U (the Wii Shop Channel is accessible on the Wii U via the Wii backwards compatibility feature), which has been available since December 2006. We would like to thank our loyal customers for supporting the Wii Shop Channel, and would like them to continue to enjoy software downloaded from the shop.
We plan to end all services related to Wii Shop Channel, including the purchase of WiiWare and Virtual Console software, downloads of Wii Channels, and use of the Wii U Transfer Tool, which transfers data from Wii to Wii U.”
While the eshop will still be available to those who own a Switch, the Wii and Wii U owners will have until 2019 to access the Shop Channel before the servers are shut down. Afterwards, all access to it will be denied, ending the era to Nintendo’s first online gaming store.
