Nintendo Says Wii U Owners Shouldn’t Make Use of Online Services

If you’ve been following gaming developments for the past few years you will likely remember that Nintendo halted support for the Wii U last April. Several YouTubers and gaming personalities made videos lamenting the closure of the respective storefronts for each device. Fortunately, the gaming community was quick to come up with a way to keep online services alive and kicking. Now Nintendo has weighed in on those efforts. 

As spotted by the folks over at Nintendo Life. Nintendo of Japan Customer Support shared a statement. The statement was regarding the use of online services that replaced those terminated in April of 2024.

The Tweet(Translated by Google Translate)

“[Request] We have confirmed the existence of non-official services that replace the Wii U’s online play and other functions, which ended on April 9,  2024. Please refrain from using such services as they may pose unexpected security risks.”

While it’s all good and well to make a statement informing customers of a security risk. Nintendo should inform Wii U owners what sorts of security risks they are opening themselves up to. Given Nintendo’s stance on emulation, console customization and circumventing prohibitive hardware. This may well be an issue that is blown out of proportion. 

If the company had continued to support the device then users would not be forced to resort to unofficial services. Otherwise, Nintendo could work hand-in-hand with the community and help them address any security concerns. 

Just because a company chooses to discontinue a service for a device, does that mean that owners of that device should accept reduced utility? They own their devices after all. One could argue that there should be protections in place that mandate a company provide suitable support regardless of a device’s age to stop toxic tech practices that force users to buy new tech. 

Regardless, Nintendo seems to think that the use of third-party services on your Wii U might open you up to unnecessary risks. So do your due diligence before connecting and try and make sure that devices on your network are sufficiently protected.