This Charity Is Putting Nintendo On Blast

Nintendo sent fans into a mad frenzy as it announced that the 3DS and Wii U eShops would be shutting down as of March 23, 2023. Fans were beyond upset to know that titles would be taken down forever and that there was very little time left to get anything they didn't want to regret missing out on. After all, finding physical copies of games can already be difficult, and this decision will more than likely make it even harder. One charity has spoken out against Nintendo's shady side because of this decision, arguing that Nintendo is making it impossible for fans to enjoy a large number of games in the future.

The charity in question, Video Game History Foundation, stated on Twitter that it's a "nonprofit dedicated to preserving, celebrating, and teaching the history of video games. On Feb. 17, the organization took to the social media platform to call out Nintendo. While it opened by saying that it understood Nintendo's actions because of "business reality," it didn't understand "what path Nintendo expects its fans to take should they wish to play these games in the future."

The Video Games History Foundation also made some pretty hefty claims that Nintendo was actively working against the preservation of its games.

Essentially, the Video Games History Foundation was upset because there will be no legal way to access and preserve the digital-only games come 2023. The organization explained it like this:

"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. Not providing commercial access is understandable, but preventing institutional work to preserve these titles on top of that is actively destructive to video game history."

In the past, Nintendo has been notoriously strict about taking down any of its titles as they become available through emulation, an illegal practice that lets players play games for free. In fact, the massive company has destroyed bootleg sites in the past because of the practice. While emulation is technically illegal, it allows gamers to access titles that have been out of production and otherwise unavailable for years. Now that hundreds of games will be lost when the eShops are closed, the Video Games History Foundation asked Nintendo what it wants fans to do.

While some fans pointed out that people have a year to purchase any games they think they might want, others were quick to explain that the problem lies in the fact that Nintendo clearly doesn't care about preserving legacy titles. The closest thing Nintendo has done was bring some classic games to the Switch – but only after a price hike that caused an uproar.