Nintendo Switch Online Services Are Down

Nintendo's online services are experiencing issues at one of the worst possible times. Nintendo Switch players are currently unable to connect to the internet, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons' release is just days away.

The issues began this morning, with Nintendo's online network services going down across Switch, Wii U, 3DS, and web browsers, according to the official Nintendo operational status page. All network services are affected, which means you won't be able to play games or buy new ones until the problem is resolved. However, others have reported sporadic success connecting in specific games, so it can't hurt to still try out the game you're hoping to play.

Given the number of people currently stuck at home worldwide due to the coronavirus outbreak, it's possible the network could be overloaded. Xbox Live suffered a similar outage late last week that was resolved within a few hours, though the exact cause wasn't made public.

Downloading new Switch games could be the only way for some to buy them over the next few weeks, as certain states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania are closing "non-essential" businesses in order to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Alongside Animal Crossing: New Horizon's upcoming release, the Nintendo outage comes just before Nintendo's Indie World Showcase. It's scheduled for today at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET and will feature 20 minutes of information on upcoming Switch games. If any of those games were planned for immediate release, the outage could be an issue.