Nintendo Network outages hit eShop, NNID creation stalled (update 5)

Some Nintendo Wii U, 2DS and 3DS users are receiving errors that prevent them from accessing the eShop and creating a new Nintendo Network ID, according to updates posted on Nintendo's support site.

Disruptions to the eShop service stem back to a recent 3DS family software update that merged balances with the Wii U eShop and brought the Miiverse social network to the handheld.

"The recent system update added the ability to link a Nintendo Network ID with a Nintendo 3DS family system," the support page explains. "This has become a popular feature and the number of users creating a Nintendo Network ID on their Nintendo 3DS and accessing the Nintendo eShop has been greater than anticipated. Because of this, there may be times when some users will experience service disruptions to the Nintendo eShop. If you are having problems accessing the Nintendo eShop, we ask that you try again at a later time."

A NNID allows users to access Nintendo Network services, like the Miiverse social network. Users are currently experiencing problems at the creation phase, according an article on Nintendo Support.

"Due to an error during the account creation process, the Nintendo Network ID that was entered may not be useable," Nintendo's article explains. "If you continue to receive this error and are unable to complete creating an account with a specific Nintendo Network ID, we ask that you try again with a different ID."

The outage is just one of several that occurred during the last few days, as PlayStation Network, Xbox Live and Steam also experienced disruptions in service around Christmas.

We've reached out to Nintendo about the issue and will update this article with more information as we receive it.

Update: Nintendo's online services across all platforms are still experiencing technical difficulties as of this morning.

"Due to a high amount of online traffic, network services may be intermittently unavailable," reads a status update message posted for the Wii U, Wii, 3DS and DS systems. "We apologize for the inconvenience, and thank you for your patience."

Late last night, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company announced the delayed launch of the Pokemon Bank and Pokemon Transfer apps outside of Japan, due to "a large volume in traffic" and intermittent "service disruptions" across Nintendo's networks.

Update 2: According to a tweet from the Nintendo UK account, the eShop will be taken offline at 4 p.m. ET and will be down for maintenance for 12 hours. We've reached out to Nintendo to ask if this is for Europe only or if the maintenance extends to the North American eShop as well.

Update 3: A representative for Nintendo provided the following statement to Polygon, which explains that "a high volume of traffic" is behind the network disruptions and that "providing a solution is our top priority."

Due to a high volume of traffic on the Nintendo Network service, users may be having trouble setting up Nintendo Network IDs and downloading content in the Nintendo eShop on both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. We understand this is taking longer than expected, but we can assure you that providing a solution is our top priority. We are determined to make sure everyone can enjoy all that Wii U and Nintendo 3DS have to offer. In an effort to manage the high volume of traffic and ultimately improve your experience, we are temporarily taking the Nintendo eShop services offline between the hours of 4 p.m. and 4 a.m. ET. Please be aware that during this time period, you will be unable to transfer data between different Nintendo 3DS hardware, as well as being unable to download update data for your Nintendo 3DS software. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your continued patience.

Update 4: According to Nintendo of America's official Twitter account, the company is "making progress" in restoring its global network. Until the eShop goes offline at 4 p.m. ET for maintenance, users can redeem codes or use eShop gift cards.

Update 5: The outage was caused by a holiday surge in demand, Nintendo says.