5 min read
Ghost eShop

Ghost eShop 3DS transition & Ghost eShop Public NX is coming back

A quick update after a quiet couple of months: legacy Ghost eShop 3DS downloads go offline June 19, FreeShop 3DS and the new 3DS app are next, and Public NX returns before end of August with clear limits.

Hello everyone 👋

First of all, sorry for the quiet last two months. We have not posted much, and we owe you a straight explanation. It came down to important health reasons on our side, plus personal matters we had to deal with. Nothing dramatic to share in detail here; we are back and picking things up again.

This post covers Ghost eShop 3DS, ghosteshop.com, and Ghost eShop Public NX (nx.ghostland.at).

Ghost eShop 3DS and ghosteshop.com: downloads going offline

Starting Friday, June 19, two things go fully offline for game lists and downloads:

  • The legacy Ghost eShop 3DS homebrew backend
  • ghosteshop.com on the same side of the stack

This is intentional. Over the next few weeks we are moving to the definitive new Ghost eShop 3DS release, alongside the full rollout of FreeShop 3DS: freeshop.app

If you still use the old 3DS path today, plan around June 19. The replacement stack is what we are building toward, not a permanent shutdown of 3DS support.

Ghost eShop Public NX: coming back before end of August 2026

We spent a long time thinking about Public NX: how it should work, whether it should come back, and under what rules.

Decision: Ghost eShop Public NX will be back before the end of August 2026. We are not planning to take it offline again in the same way as before. It will stay up, but with limits so the service stays viable.

What Public NX will include at launch

  • Bases and updates whose release date is at least 6 months old
  • No titles newer than 6 months (anything with a release date under 6 months stays out of the public catalog)
  • DLCs will not be available in the first months; we are still deciding how to handle them long term

Rate limits and privacy

  • A monthly rate limit applies per console and per IP
  • IP addresses tied to a console UUID can be removed from our databases about one month after collection, if you request it through an official page using your nxkey
  • IPs and UUIDs are also deleted automatically if that console or IP has been inactive on our servers for 60 days or more (two months)

What we store for Public NX: only IP addresses, console UUIDs, your game list, and total bandwidth used. That is it. We keep this minimum so we can run rate limits fairly and give everyone a solid experience without hoarding unrelated data.

Later: optional ads to raise limits

Later on, for users who do not want to pay but want higher limits or access to restricted content (DLCs, very large games or updates, and similar), we plan a simple web page where you enter your nxkey and watch ads to increase your limits.

The ad flow is meant to cover extra bandwidth for people who download more than the base allowance, not to replace Pro.

We know some of you will not like the limits

Some of you will be unhappy about rate limits and the ad-based option. We understand that.

We want to be clear again: servers, bandwidth, hardware, and domains cost real money. A single megabyte might look like fractions of a cent, but at petabyte-scale traffic with a large user base, it adds up fast.

We also know the money side of the project bothers some people. There is no magic formula for a high-quality project that lasts years:

You can usually have only two of these three at once:

  • Unlimited access
  • Good quality (speed, reliability, UX)
  • Completely free

A sustainable, high-quality service on a very long timeline forces trade-offs. We are making them on purpose.

Ghost eShop Pro is already live and entering its final development phases. It funds and will keep funding the free shops: 3DS, Switch, and the upcoming PS4 / PS5 work.

The nxkey ad system is meant to fund the extra bandwidth for users who want to download beyond the public monthly cap.

How we think about all of this

We have thought about this roadmap for a long time. The goal is still the same: offer a very good service that stays viable over the very long term.

That means choices all the time, down to individual lines of code across the projects. We get things wrong sometimes, in product calls or in how we communicate. Past mistakes are there so we learn and ship better services.

Thank you to everyone who keeps supporting the project. It matters more than it might look from the outside.

In short

  • Sorry for the quiet stretch: health and personal reasons.
  • June 19: legacy Ghost eShop 3DS lists and downloads go offline, including ghosteshop.com; new 3DS app + FreeShop 3DS are the path forward.
  • Before end of August 2026: Public NX returns with 6-month content rule, no DLC at first, monthly limits per console/IP, nxkey IP deletion on request, auto deletion after 60 days inactive, minimal data stored (IP, UUID, game list, bandwidth), and ads later to raise caps.
  • Pro funds the free tiers; ads help pay for extra public bandwidth.

Thanks for reading.

  • Your Ghost eShop Team