Which service shutdown ended official online play for Splatoon on April 8, 2024?

Nintendo Network was the service whose shutdown ended official online play for Splatoon on April 8, 2024.

The original Splatoon was released for Wii U in 2015, and its online multiplayer depended on Nintendo’s network services for matchmaking and other connected features. Nintendo Network supported online functionality across the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS families, including game services, leaderboards, and SpotPass features.

Nintendo announced that Nintendo Network services for Wii U and 3DS would be discontinued in 2024. Once the shutdown took effect, official online play for Splatoon and many other Wii U and 3DS games was no longer available. Offline modes and locally playable features were not erased by the closure, but the game could no longer connect to Nintendo’s official multiplayer service.

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection was an older service and had already been replaced by Nintendo Network for these platforms. Miiverse was a social communication service rather than the underlying online-play network. Nintendo Switch Online is the subscription service for Switch games, not the service used by the Wii U’s Splatoon.