Nintendo’s DSi online storefront set to close in 2017

By Danny Cowan March 31, 2016

nintendo closes dsi shop in 2017 dsishutdown header — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Nintendo is sunsetting its online storefront for Nintendo DSi consoles, rendering the portables unable to download new games after the service’s planned shutdown in 2017.

According to a NeoGAF translation of Nintendo’s statement, DSi owners will no longer be able to add points to their online accounts after September 30, 2016, and the Nintendo DSi shop will cease operation on March 31, 2017.

Released in North America in 2009, the Nintendo DSi and DSi XL were among the first portable Nintendo consoles to offer downloadable games for purchase via an online storefront. The platform was quickly overshadowed by the 2012 launch of the Nintendo 3DS, but its online functionality remained active in the years afterward.

The Nintendo DSi introduced a slate of new features compared to its predecessor, the Nintendo DS, including many that were later implemented in Nintendo’s 3DS hardware. In addition to offering downloadable “DSiWare” titles, the platform featured two digital cameras that saw infrequent use within a handful of DSi-exclusive releases. The Nintendo 3DS would later boast stereoscopic photography as a standard hardware feature.

While Nintendo DSi portables will be unable to download games in the future, nearly all DSiWare titles are compatible with 3DS hardware, and the majority of releases for the platform will still be available for purchase from the Nintendo 3DS eShop after the DSi storefront’s shutdown.

DSiWare games will still be playable after Nintendo ends its support for the DSi shop, and players can transfer their purchases to Nintendo 3DS portables via the platform’s system transfer feature. Transferred games will be registered to associated 3DS eShop accounts, and players will be able to redownload their purchases at a later date.

Nintendo announced that it plans to issue refunds to players in Japan who have yet to redeem purchased codes for DSi Points. Details regarding the refund process are not yet known, and Nintendo has not announced plans to offer refunds for players in North America or Europe.

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Nintendo last week announced its intentions to shut down the Wii U and 3DS eShops, the systems' digital storefronts, in March 2023. This decision was disappointing for hardcore fans who stuck with Nintendo during that rocky era and extremely worrying as many of the games available on the platforms won't be preserved.
More significant Wii U games and a handful of 3DS titles were ported to Switch, but many titles are still stuck on those systems and can’t be ported. Once the digital storefront shutdowns, digital-only titles will be gone forever, and physical copies of these titles will get more expensive and harder to experience. Fans and game preservationists have not been pleased by this decision, with the Video Game History Foundation giving the most candid response.
https://twitter.com/GameHistoryOrg/status/1494398068346654720
Following this announcement, Digital Trends spoke to an industry analyst and game preservationists to get a better idea of what exactly caused Nintendo to shut down these stores and to learn how it could do a better job at preserving its legacy.
Why is Nintendo shutting down the 3DS and Wii eShops?
Officially, Nintendo’s FAQ on the eShop closures says “this is part of the natural life cycle for any product line as it becomes less used by consumers over time." The answer doesn’t get into specifics and might confuse those still playing games on the system or fans of games only available on Wii U or 3DS. Omdia Principal Analyst Matthew Bailey explains Nintendo’s user base argument in more detail, highlighting the massive gap between the number of people playing the Switch as opposed to the Wii U.
“While Omdia expects the number of Switch consoles in active use to exceed 90 million on a global basis this year, the Wii U’s global active installed base will drop under one million in 2022,” he explains. “Even when you include the more enduring 3DS family of consoles into the equation, the Switch still comfortably accounts for over 90% of Nintendo’s total active console install base.”
If one is going off just the numbers, it’s sensible that Nintendo would want to focus on the majority of its players. Bailey admits that “Switch users are already reaping the benefits of Nintendo’s singular first-party development focus on one platform.” Still, one might argue that Nintendo should just let the eShops remain up even if it isn’t actively updating or maintaining them.

Unfortunately, Nintendo doesn’t see that as possible due to cost and security issues. Game Over Thrity, a Twitter user with over 20 years of experience working on IT projects and infrastructure, shed some light on what might have influenced Nintendo’s decision-making in a thread.
“As these systems age, they require patches, security, special contracts, updates, and personnel that know how they were built (and maintained),” his Twitter thread explains. “As time goes on, there are security holes, servers, code, infrastructure, etc., that can’t be brought up to modern standards. It becomes a constant struggle between maintaining legacy systems, paying people to do so, and trying to keep up with global regulations. It’s not cheap by any means. They can’t just ‘leave the lights on’ and stop supporting them. What if someone hacked the payment processor?”
With every passing year, the Wii U and 3DS eShops likely became more expensive to maintain and an increased security risk for the video game publisher. Instead of investing the time and resources into pleasing a smaller amount of players, the easier option is to turn everything off entirely. While he isn’t affiliated with Nintendo, Game Over Thirty’s assessment aligns with what we’ve heard from Nintendo and Omdia.
"The Wii U’s global active installed base will drop under one million in 2022."