Nintendo to Shut Down Miiverse, Its Social Network for Wii U and 3DS

Farewell Miiverse. Nintendo has announced that it will be shutting down the social network which was launched with the Wii U gaming console. The service will stop working on November 8 and while it never was a massive success, it did have a dedicated user base.

Miiverse allowed users to submit hand-drawn posts, which would then show up against their avatars in games for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Once this feature is terminated, those games will look a bit empty. If you have no idea what this feature is all about, perhaps you could check out Splatoon 2 on Nintendo Switch, which has a similar feature.

Here’s what Nintendo said about shutting down the service. “We started the Miiverse service in 2012 along with the launch of the Wii U system because we wanted to provide a space where users could share their feelings about games with each other. Thanks to users' support throughout the years, we think we were able to achieve that goal. We decided to end the service at this time because, among other reasons, many users are shifting to social networking services.”

The likes of Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter are far more popular among gamers, and that probably was the biggest factor behind this move. Miiverse may not seem like it’s a super useful feature, but it did allow people to express themselves inside Nintendo games. Messages such as “RIP MS Paint” and other relevant social commentary would often show up in your games. Some of these messages were hilarious, while others were from highly skilled artists.

If you are among these artists, then Nintendo has said that it’ll allow you to download your works before the service is shut down. That should allow you to keep a backup of your masterpieces. “Users can download their old Miiverse posts (without comments or messages from others) by visiting http://miiverse.nintendo.net and registering before the Miiverse service ends on Nov. 7, 2017 at 10 p.m. PT,” Nintendo said.

Here’s how you can download your old Miiverse posts: “Once registered, users will receive an e-mail via Nintendo Account mail a few weeks after the Miiverse service ends, which will include a unique URL to download their past Miiverse posts.”

Nintendo will also be shuttering the Wii U chat service, which allowed players to chat with and talk to each other. Another service called TVii will be shut down on the same day in Japan. This service let people use the Wii U gamepad as a second screen for streaming media apps. TVii was shut down in the US in August 2015.

This move also cripples some crucial functionality in several games such as Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U. In Mario Kart 8, those playing on the Wii U won’t be able to upload footage to YouTube anymore since the service posts to Miiverse at the same time. Here are other games and the changes you can expect, as Nintendo itself puts it:

• Super Mario Maker (Wii U): Users will still be able to share levels, but will no longer be able to comment on them.
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars (Wii U, Nintendo 3DS): While users will still be able to play Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars and complete all 88 levels in the main game, the Community feature will be discontinued, preventing players from sharing levels and receiving additional Stars. As there will be a limit to the number of Stars that can be obtained, not all objects may be unlocked from the Workshop.
• Splatoon (Wii U): Miiverse posts will no longer display in Inkopolis Plaza or the game's stage maps.
• Super Smash Bros. (Wii U, Nintendo 3DS): The Miiverse stage will still be playable, but Miiverse user posts will not display in the background. Players will also be unable to post replays to YouTube/Miiverse, share stages or create tournaments.
• Mario Kart 8 (Wii U): Players will not be able to upload game-play videos to YouTube since they also post to Miiverse at the same time. The tournament function will also not be available.
• Super Mario 3D World (Wii U): In Super Mario 3D World, the Miiverse posts that appear on the course select screen and when selecting courses will disappear. Players will still be able to collect in-game stamps, but not post them to Miiverse.
• Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U): In Xenoblade Chronicles X, the Blade report feature will no longer be available.

The full list of games affected by the closure of Miiverse is available here.