It has been announced that “Miiverse”, Nintendo’s (sorta) social network service for Wii U and the 3DS family of handheld devices, will be disconnected permanently come November 7th, 2017.
In the official FAQ regarding the end of service, Nintendo vaguely states the reason as, “We decided to end the service at this time because, among other reasons, many users are shifting to social networking services.” In addition, the end of Miiverse on Wii U will also mean the end for Wii U Chat. Also mentioned is that Nintendo has no plans to bring the Miiverse service to Nintendo Switch.
It is noted further in the FAQ that you will be able to download your Miiverse post history before November 7.
As expected, this announcement raised many questions about the 100+ Miiverse-integrated games among fans, especially concerning the fan-favorite Super Mario Maker. Addressing this in the FAQ, it is stated: “Users will still be able to share levels, but will no longer be able to comment on them”. The FAQ lists how other titles like Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (especially the Miiverse stage) will be affected by the discontinuation, and a full list of affected games can be found here.
The odd but fun service will surely be missed by fans, as it had created a versatile playground culture full of inside jokes and beautiful artworks.
RIP Miiverse, Wii hardly knew ye.
