Nintendo Network set to close in April 2024 [UPDATED]

[UPDATE 01/23/24] Nintendo’s service discontinuation page has been updated today to specify that Nintendo Network would shut down on April 8th, 2024, 4:00PM PDT. The initial announcement follows:

On around midnight (EDT) of October 4th, Nintendo announced the discontinuation of the Nintendo Network in April 2024, affecting both the Wii U and 3DS family of products.

In early April 2024, online play and other functionality that uses online communication will end for Nintendo 3DS* and Wii U software. This also includes online co-operative play, internet rankings, and data distribution.

You can find more information about badges for decorating the Nintendo 3DS HOME Menu using Nintendo Badge Arcade here.

We will announce a specific end date and time at a later date.

Please note that if an event occurs that would make it difficult to continue online services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software, we may have to discontinue services earlier than planned.

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.

* This includes software exclusive to New Nintendo 3DS.
Announcement of Discontinuation of Online Services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software – October 2023

The article continues with five Q&As which let us know among other things that both Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter are expected to remain online beyond April 2024, and that for the foreseeable future, it will still be possible to download update data and redownload purchased software and downloadable content from Nintendo eShop.

Nintendo also provided an additional FAQ entry for Nintendo Badge Arcade, detailing the closure of the service and the availability of badges going forward.

In conjunction with the discontinuation of online services for Nintendo 3DS software, service for all features of Nintendo Badge Arcade will also end. Prior to the end of services in early April 2024, please have a look at the points below.

After service ends, Nintendo Badge Arcade will display an error screen when launched.If Nintendo Badge Arcade is launched after service ends, an error screen will be displayed and it will not be possible to use the software. As a result, the Practice Catcher will no longer be available.

It will no longer be possible to place badges in the badge box.Once service ends, badges obtained in Nintendo Badge Arcade will continue to be available for decorating the Nintendo 3DS HOME Menu. However, it will no longer be possible to place badges in the badge box, meaning that users will only have access to a maximum of 100 categories and 1,000 badges that are in the badge box. We recommend that users finish placing badges before the end of services for this software.

Please note that badge data for decorating the HOME Menu will be saved as additional data to the SD card. If data is lost due to the SD card malfunctioning or some other reason, it will not be possible to restore badge data after the end of services in early April 2024. Therefore, we also recommend that users back up their SD card in preparation against unlikely events.

You can prepare multiple SD cards and save different data to each of them.

You cannot combine data from multiple SD cards into a single one later.

We sincerely thank Nintendo Badge Arcade users for supporting the software for so long and apologize for any inconvenience.
Information on Nintendo Badge Arcade Service Discontinuation – October 2023

Excellent point in backing up the 3DS SD card! For the time being the shutdown has been placed on our Watch List as April 1st, 2024 until we get a more definitive date. Thanks to Kevin for sending this news our way!