The Nintendo eShop has been in and out of maintenance for the past twenty-four hours with these sporadic maintenances lasting until the end of the night (or early morning for countries in Europe) according to Nintendolife. These maintenances are meant to improve the eShop in various ways, which has caused network functions to potentially be unavailable during those times for the Nintendo Switch, Wii U and 3DS.
The maintenance yesterday was meant to help store Nintendo Switch Online data to the cloud, as noted by NintendoEverything. This maintenance only lasted for about half an hour, varying in time under maintenance based on region.
The maintenances today were set to provide various improvements to the Nintendo eShops. There have been five separate maintenance announcements set on their website, which are all going to begin later this evening. Nintendo’s website states that these improvements include:
Nintendo eShop
Using Credit Card (including child Nintendo Account creation in US)
During the maintenance window, all network services will be unavailable.
Date and time
From Monday, March 13, 2023 9 :00 PM – Tuesday, March 14, 2023 12 :00 AM Pacific Time
Nintendo eShop
During the maintenance window, network services may be unavailable.
Date and time
From Monday, March 13, 2023 10 :00 PM – Monday, March 13, 2023 11 :30 PM Pacific Time
Nintendo eShop
- certain network services
During the maintenance window, all network services will be unavailable.
Date and time
From Monday, March 13, 2023 10 :00 PM – Monday, March 13, 2023 11 :30 PM Pacific Time
Use of downloadable software
Certain network services
During the maintenance window, network services may be unavailable.
Date and time
From Monday, March 13, 2023 10 :00 PM – Monday, March 13, 2023 11 :30 PM Pacific Time
Nintendo eShop
During the maintenance window, network services may be unavailable.
Date and time
From Monday, March 13, 2023 10 :00 PM – Monday, March 13, 2023 11 :30 PM Pacific Time
The updates given to the Nintendo Switch make sense, as this is their current console, as they are trying to maintain the longevity of the Switch with updates to improve their store. The updates to the Wii U and 3DS on the other hand might be an indication of their rapidly enclosing end. According to DoteSports, after being around for almost 12 years, both the Wii U and 3DS eShops are closing on March 27. Many of their games are going on sale, which is impactful, as once these online stores shut down, these games will no longer be purchasable. These maintenances to the 3DS and Wii U might be some of the last preparations necessary before Nintendo ultimately shuts them down in two weeks.
With all of that said, the maintenances are going to improve the current system in place for buying games online. These changes will occur starting this evening and completing a few hours later.