[filoleg]

> People bought eShop software and physical hardware that they can no longer use or update.

Yeah, about that - ‘FAQ from Nintendo says that players will be able to download patches and redownload games purchased from the eShop “for the foreseeable future.”’ Directly from the link in the OP.

[HideousKojima]

If the original Wii and DSi are any indication, the store shutdowns should follow in just couple of years.

[filoleg]

I will complain about it once I see it happen.

Wii and DSi were released during the time when digital game stores were just emerging and were not nearly as commonly used as they are now, so, at the time, it felt like they were an afterthought. It was the first generation of consoles that even had digital stores in the first place (as Wii and DSi were a part of the same generation as Xbox360 and PS3, and GameCube/PS2/Xbox [from the prior generation] didn’t have digital stores).

Almost 2 decades later, in the present, digital game stores are the primary method of purchasing games for tons of people, and their share only keeps growing. I think these days, it is a bit more difficult and damaging to just abruptly sunset them the same way it went with Wii and DSi.

We will see how it goes, but I will save my outrage until Nintendo actually does or announces doing such a move. Otherwise, I would just be fighting the windmills created by my projections of what Nintendo might theoretically do in the future.

Love your username btw.