After five months, Nintendo is bringing back servers for Splatoon and Mario Kart 8 on Wii U, but the company is already warning that a permanent shutdown could come without much notice.
Servers for both games will return on August 3, exactly five months and one day after they were taken down, according to a new post on Nintendo's support site. You will need to download an update before you can play, however. While both Japanese and European Nintendo branches have made the announcement, Nintendo of America hasn't officially done the same - though it's a safe bet that confirmation on the US side will be coming shortly.
The original issue was described as "a vulnerability related to online play." Nintendo now says "if further issues occur which make it difficult to continue supporting online play, we may have to discontinue the online play service for the Wii U games Splatoon and Mario Kart 8 at short notice." In other words, it sounds like Nintendo's prepared to issue a permanent shutdown if another major security issue crops up.
- After shutting down the Wii U online services last year, Nintendo asks players not to use "unauthorized services" to replace them as they might pose "security risks"
- Wii U online replacement Pretendo says "we are committed to user safety" as Nintendo warns against using third-party alternatives to its dead servers
The company does helpfully note that "offline play would continue to function normally" after a full server shutdown, so single-player Splatoon and Mario Kart 8 action is still on the table. And, of course, none of this affects the servers for the modern Splatoon sequels or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Switch.
Fan-built Wii U servers are likely to keep games like these running in the future - and, in fact, they provided an alternative even during this five-month shutdown. With the Wii U and 3DS eShop shutdowns having landed just a few months ago, it's increasingly looking like fan work is the only way we're going to be able to maintain access to big chunks of gaming history.
It's never a bad time to dive into the best Wii U games.
