Nintendo announced through a message on the Nintendo eShop that the online features of the Metroid Prime: Blast Ball demo will be shut down in North America on December 31 at 23:59PT.

This demo lets players try out Blast Ball, which is a side-mode in Metroid Prime: Federation Force. It was made available back in July, and online features were only supposed to run until September, but were silently extended without many noticing.

While the demo can still be downloaded, the following message appears on its page in the eShop:

Thank you for your continued support. The online multiplayer feature for the Metroid Prime: Federation Force Blast Ball demo will be discontinued at 2016/12/31 23:59 PST. The discontinuation of this demo feature will not impact the online multiplayer feature available in the full version of the game.

While the online features on the demo will be shut down, offline features such as local co-op matches will still be playable. There has been no word on whether or not the demo will be de-listed after that date.

DualShockers gave Metroid Prime: Federation Force a 7.0, and had the following to say about Blast Ball: "With my time playing it, Blast Ball felt extremely slow paced yet chaotic in comparison to most other multiplayer titles."

Metroid Prime: Federation Force is available now on 3DS.