Nintendo Wii Console to Drop Netflix, Wii Shop Channel Support Next January

Legends can't live forever. Coming next year, Nintendo will no longer support Netflix, Wii Shop Channel, and more.

In an announcement made by online video streaming service Netflix, the seventh generation console will end support for the service on January 30, 2019. On the same date, Nintendo will be shutting down the Wii Shop Channel, the console's go-to application for getting new games and software.

No Wii Shop Channel means that any games the user has purchased through the service will not be re-downloadable. This includes titles on the WiiWare and Virtual Console program. It also means that users will not be able to transfer date from their Wii to their Wii U using the system transfer tool.

Netflix isn't the only service hindered by this. Netflix claims that all video streaming services will be halted after that date, though greater details were not given.

The Nintendo Wii was undoubtedly an influential console. It'd have to be to hold online support for 12 years. When it originally launched on November 19, 2006, it introduced itself as a viable home console for casual families around the world. A massive success, Nintendo sold 101.63 million console units by March 31, 2016.

This will be a melancholy loss to many modern gamers who grew up with the console. At least it lived a good life.