It looks like Nintendo’s last dedicated handheld device has been discontinued.
In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, Nintendo has confirmed that the Nintendo 3DS family of systems ended production earlier this year. The company goes on to say: “We can confirm that the manufacturing of the Nintendo 3DS family of systems has ended. Nintendo and third-party games for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems will continue to be available in Nintendo eShop, on Nintendo.com and at retail. The existing library of more than 1,000 Nintendo 3DS games contains many critically acclaimed titles and can provide years of content to explore and enjoy.”
With regards to the 3DS eshop, it looks like it will be here for awhile as they have no plans to end any online services for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. Specifically, “online play and Nintendo eShop will continue to be available and it will be possible to access and redownload all previously purchased content in the foreseeable future.”
With the Nintendo 3DS family of systems ending, Nintendo is now a one dedicated-gaming device company. Since the 3DS was in production for nine years and Nintendo published games on it for eight years, it does bode well for the company’s long-term support of the current Nintendo Switch.
The Nintendo 3DS released in 2011 and ended up selling 75.87 million hardware units with 384 million software units worldwide as of June 30, 2020. Its end also marks the end of the Dual-Screen (DS) brand/era for Nintendo which began in 2004 with the launch of the Nintendo DS.
What is your favorite 3DS game? Are you sad that it’s the end of an era? Feel free to comment below!
Dave’s first Nintendo platform was the GameCube when he was age 7; however, he was introduced to Nintendo through Duck Hunt on NES.