Netflix Is Dropping Support For Two Nintendo Consoles This Year

If you use either a Nintendo 3DS or a Wii U as your main Netflix-viewing platform, you'll want to find something different to use soon. Netflix and Nintendo have announced that both machines will lose support for Netflix later this year. That, importantly, means that Netflix won't be available on any Nintendo console, which seems like a big oversight.

Indeed, even though many of us assumed that Netflix would land on the Switch shortly after that console released in 2017, such an app never materialized. For that matter, there aren't a ton of apps available for the Nintendo Switch in general, though one of Netflix's key competitors – Hulu – does have its own Switch app. Switch is also home to a YouTube app as well, but as far as streaming services go, that's pretty much it.

It seems the assumption is that people will get their Netflix/Prime Video/Disney+ kicks elsewhere, but there are no doubt a number of Switch fans out there who would like to see those apps come to their console of choice. It's definitely strange that Netflix hasn't made its way to the Switch, especially when we're talking about Netflix dropping support for the 3DS, which is a device with a very low resolution display that isn't really suitable for streaming at all, and the Wii U, which only managed to sell 13 million units worldwide.

In any case, Nintendo and Netflix confirmed today that service for both the 3DS and Wii U applications will be ending on June 30th, 2021. The apps were already removed from the Nintendo eShop on December 31st, 2020, and while that means new users can't download them anymore, those who already have them can continue to use them until the end of June.

This announcement doesn't really come as a shock. As stated above, the Wii U never really had a sizeable userbase, and while the 3DS did, Nintendo has also been in the process of sunsetting the device for a number of years now. Perhaps now that the 3DS and Wii U apps are going away, we'll finally be able to get a Switch Netflix app? With the Switch turning four years old in March, that seems unlikely, but we'll keep our fingers crossed anyway.