Nintendo to Discontinue Wii U and 3DS eShops and More

Welcome to another edition of Emmen Weekly! Here, we will explore the latest gaming updates from the industry and some local news too.

Let’s start with one of the major announcements from Nintendo last week – it’s not about Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild 2, but the discontinuation of Wii U and 3DS eShops.

Nintendo Announces End of Support for Wii U and 3DS eShops

On March 27, 2023, Nintendo will discontinue support for the Wii U and 3DS eShop feature. Previously, they had announced that digital sales for these consoles would end in March 2023. Users will no longer be able to add currency or purchase new games from these storefronts. However, this will not affect the Nintendo Switch’s eShop infrastructure.

Users can still redownload previously purchased games and their DLC, receive software updates, and play games online. Nintendo has stated that this will not change “in the foreseeable future.”

The Nintendo 3DS was an important console for the company. As of September 2022, Nintendo reports that over 75.94 million units have been shipped worldwide. Of these, 25.26 million were shipped to Japan, 26.90 million were shipped to the Americas, and 23.78 million were shipped to other territories including Europe.

The Last of Us on Outpaces The House of The Dragons in Viewership

The Last of Us TV show has surpassed House of The Dragons in viewership on HBO by garnering 837 million streaming minutes, according to the Nielsen Streaming Charts for the week of January 16th to January 22nd.

These numbers reflect only the streaming minutes on HBO Max and do not include metrics for other HBO linear channels. According to HBO, the series has achieved all-time high streaming numbers, with the first two episodes averaging 21.3 million viewers. Netflix shows dominate much of the list, with Ginny & Georgia taking the top spot with 1,804 million minutes of watch time over its 20 episodes.

HBO Max has already given the green light for a second season of The Last of Us, and executive producer and Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann has announced that the second season of the show will focus on the events of The Last of Us Part 2, just as the first season focuses on the first installment of the game.

Ubisoft Says Delays, Cancellations Were Because It Was Making Too Many Games at Once

During a call with investors, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot explained that the company had to cancel some games to make room for others that are currently in development. This decision has helped the remaining games to progress more efficiently. Guillemot emphasized that the company now has the appropriate number of games, which will give space for other games that are still in the pipeline. He mentioned that the number of games in development will decrease significantly in the next 24 months, creating more room for the current titles. However, many of these games will have post-launch content, requiring additional teams and talent.

Ubisoft has had a challenging start to the year, and the CEO has put pressure on the employees to generate $3 billion in revenue to get the company back on track. Despite the difficulties, Ubisoft has several significant releases planned for the next few years, including Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Mobile, and Tom Clancy’s The Division Resurgence.

According to the latest financial report, Ubisoft’s net bookings were €726.9 million ($777.1 million), a decline of 2.6% compared to the previous year. The company expects a 10% year-over-year drop in net bookings for the full fiscal year, which it plans to announce at the end of the current quarter.

Game Room Announces DOTA 2 Tournament

Exciting news for gamers in the local scene! Game Room has announced sign-ups for their DOTA 2 tournament, “Road to Divinity.”

Tournament Information

Registration deadline: March 3rd, 2023
Tournament prize pool capped at 20,000MVR
Tournament begins on March 5th
Each player can only participate in one team per season
Group stages are divided randomly into two groups
Winners of the group stages will be decided by ‘Best-of-Ones’
Teams must have at least three players present for their matches during the tournament stage, which will be held at the Game Room Cafe.

How to Register

Players can sign up for the tournament via the tournament registration form.
To compete in the tournament, players must first register as members of Game Room. The registration fee is MVR500 per team.
Players who are looking to join a team for the tournament can do so through the official Game Room Discord channel