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On February 15, 2022, Nintendo announced the impending closure of the 3DS and Wii U eShops, marking the end of an era in mobile software and bringing to a close one of Nintendo’s early moves into the online storefront space. After Nintendo removed their appendix discussing a “responsibility to maintain historic properties” from their website, both fans and critics assumed this would be their final, harsh word on the subject. Were they wrong? Enter–the Video Game History Foundation, shouldering the immense burden of cataloguing and preserving the movements of an industry hell-bent on covering its own tracks.
Our statement on the closure of Nintendo’s legacy digital shops. pic.twitter.com/mG5GzuGH4G
— Video Game History Foundation (@GameHistoryOrg) February 17, 2022
In a statement openly addressing Nintendo, the Video Game History Foundation acknowledged the corporation’s history of punishing games preservationists, saying,
“What we don’t understand is what path Nintendo expects its fans to take, should they wish to play these games in the future. As a paying member of the Entertainment Software Association, Nintendo actively funds lobbying that prevents even libraries from being able to provide legal access to these games.”
While Nintendo has made it clear that terminating the 3DS and Wii U eShop is a business decision, their behavior regarding intellectual property–from legal action against ROM distributors to the restriction of legacy content to pay-schemed subscriptions–make it clear that their business is in maintaining a fresh and updated image to new customers, rather than contending with the storied canon of generations of material and fans.
Source: Video Game History Foundation Twitter Page
