Nintendo Co, Ltd has announced the closure of the Wii Shop Channel on Wii in Japan.

The closure will be rolled out in two steps. In the first step, customers will no longer be able to add Wii Points to their balance from March 27, 2018 4:59 Japan Time.

In the second step, customers will no longer be available to purchase Wiiware, Virtual Console titles, and other software on the Wii Shop Channel from January 31, 2019 14:59 Japan Time.

Unused Wii Points will be refunded to customers in Japan. How this will be done will be announced in the future.

We’re expecting a similar announcement shortly in both the Americas and Europe.