Nintendo has officially announced that it will be shutting down its in-built Wii Shop Channel on its Wii consoles in 2019. After the announcement, the Japanese electronics company has clarified some concerns through a FAQs (frequently asked questions) page.
Wii Shop Channel has been in the arms of Wii owners for more than 12 years. Nintendo explains that its players have been shifting to Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS consoles so they want to focus their efforts in those areas.
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Nintendo clarifies that content downloaded on the Wii Shop Channel can be transferred to a Wii U system using the Wii System Transfer Tool. In addition, WiiWare and Virtual Console games will soon be stopped as well, but downloaded games are still playable. No specific date has been announced as of yet.
Wii Points are still usable until 26 March 2018 and purchases on the shop can still be honoured until 30 January 2019. Nintendo makes clear that refunds for Wii Points that have not been used before 30 January 2019 will not be refunded.
Even if Wii Shop Channel closes, some WiiWare games are still available via Nintendo eShop on Wii U systems. In the meantime, the company has yet to announce what will happen to video on demand (VOD) systems like Netflix and Hulu after the shop shuts down.
Users can check all Wii Shop Channel shutdown FAQs via this link.
