Announced via Nintendo of Europe's Twitter (X) account, the servers for the two classic Wii U games will return back to full functionality today, August 3rd. Nintendo disabled the servers back in March of this year, with very few updates on if and when they'd return. Splatoon launched in May of 2015, and Mario Kart 8 launched a year before in May 2014.
Nintendo of Europe states, "To resume online play, downloading a new update will be necessary for each title per the release timing noted above." Whether this is an update to the game itself or the console, I am not sure. Nintendo also adds, "If further issues occur which make it difficult to continue supporting online play, we may have to discontinue the online play service for the Wii U games Splatoon and Mario Kart 8 at short notice. Should this occur, please note that offline play would continue to function normally."
This could mean that, on any given day, the servers for Splatoon and Mario Kart 8 could cease to function. Hopefully we could have a few more months of gameplay, but with constant exploits being found on the Wii U the days are numbered. Regardless, continue to enjoy Splatoon and Mario Kart 8 for however long is left.
