Nintendo announce that they will be shutting down the eShop on their 3DS and Wii U family of consoles.
The eShop is a digital retail on the Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, and Switch allows gamers around the world to purchase video games digitally and downloadable content for video games.
One thing that makes the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U’s eShop special is that they feature unique video games like the Virtual Console.
What made this convenient is that you can easily buy it on either the Nintendo 3DS or Wii U eShop saving the time and money. Getting it elsewhere will be sold at a higher rate.
When Sony attempted adopting a similar plan last year when they announce the shut down of the PlayStation store on the PSP, PS3, and PS Vita – Sony changed their decision a few weeks later keeping the PlayStation store up on everything except the PSP.
This goes to shows that when gamers come together and voice their opinion, they can make a difference in maintaining content on current gaming platforms.
Nintendo has yet to come back to their decision. Gamers can experience Nintendo’s content on Nintendo Switch but not through the Virtual Console library. It is no longer available on Nintendo Switch’s eShop.
Instead there is a subscription service called Nintendo Switch Online; it grants subscribers access to the NES, SNES, N64 and Sega Genesis online.
Another concern with the Nintendo Switch Online is that there are two different tiers, the base Nintendo Switch Online, and the Nintendo Switch Online expansion pack.
The basic plan only includes access NES and SNES online at $20 a year while the expansion pack includes everything else $50 a year. This is absurd considering it includes access to games that should be available to purchase on the Nintendo Switch’s eShop instead.
I think it is very saddening to see a company as big as Nintendo take the ability of owning video games from their gamers.
With all this being said, I hope Nintendo can see how much of a negative effect their decision will impact their longtime fans like myself and implement either the Virtual Console on the Nintendo Switch or just keep it up on the 3DS and Wii U in general.
