Splatoon Wii U players loophole their way into the game after server shut down

Nintendo officially discontinued online services for their Nintendo 3DS and Wii U titles on April 8. This means that games such as Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon can no longer be enjoyed via the official online multiplayer servers. However, it seems that some Splatoon players have mysteriously managed to remain in the game’s online mode even after the servers shut down.

スプラ1サ終したってことは今プレイしてるのはスプラ何？w#スプラトゥーン pic.twitter.com/1QuIIwRZjO

— カニ使いのルアくん (@rua_ruakun) April 9, 2024

The first title of the Splatoon series launched in 2015 for the Nintendo Wii U, and the unconventional TPS quickly garnered popularity for its unique art style and colorful combat. Although the series successfully transitioned to the Nintendo Switch starting from the release of Splatoon 2 in 2017, its early Wii U days are remembered fondly by players.

This is why Nintendo’s announcement of the discontinuation of online services for the Wii U last year came as sad news for many. As the shutdown date approached, Splatoon players around the world spent their last moments in the game’s online servers. However, there have been reports of players still being able to play Splatoon online well after the shutdown took place. This might have something to do with the game being peer-to-peer.

初代スプラ、まさかのオンライン終了時刻から1時間半すぎても遊べる。どうやら再起動したりロビーから離れたらオンライン終了するらしいけど、「WiiUを起動したままロビーを抜けなければ永遠にバトルを続けられる」という無限連射編に突入したようです。どこまで続くか、限界のその先まで見届けたい。 pic.twitter.com/F9K1BJDGoJ

— レウン (@R_GameTV) April 9, 2024

X user R_GameTV reported that they were able to keep playing Splatoon even an hour and a half after shutdown by not leaving the lobby and keeping their Wii U running. An hour later, they gave an update, claiming that they were still able to play Splatoon after the schedule update. It seems that nothing changed even three hours later, as they tweeted, “When is this game supposed to go offline?” with an in-game screenshot attached. Finally, six hours after servers went offline, R_GameTV was finally met with an error screen, unable to access Splatoon anymore.

The incident has reminded players of Halo 2 – back when online support for Xbox Live was discontinued in 2010, a dozen Halo 2 players desperately strived to remain connected to multiplayer servers, and the last player was able to persevere for almost a whole month following official shutdown. Perhaps there are still some Wii U Splatoon players out there managing to squeeze out extra hours before getting booted.