The Nintendo 3DS is arguably one of Nintendo's best consoles. It is a decent piece of hardware with a huge library of games that, thanks to its backwards compatibility, can even run Nintendo DS games, not to mention the solid array of NES, Game Boy, and Super Nintendo titles on the Virtual Console.
The Nintendo Switch is on its way to becoming the best console the Big N has ever put out, and all this for good reason. It is a home/handheld console that you can take with you everywhere you go, and it's gaining a lot of traction due to that very same reason. In this day and age, people don't have time to play games at home and the Nintendo Switch is a real godsend in that sense.
But all the success the Nintendo Switch is having means that Nintendo's other handheld console, the 3DS, will probably be left to die as the company's focus shifts to the Switch.
Well, Mr. Tatsumi Kimishima, president of Nintendo, has talked about the future of the 3DS during an investors briefing this past April. As reported by
Spawn Wave, Mr. Kimishima answered a question regarding the current plans for the 3DS as the Nintendo Switch enters its second year of sales.
Kimishima's answer was that the numbers they got, in sales, for the Nintendo 3DS were exactly what they were expecting for the last fiscal year. "
It has an ample software lineup at a price point that makes the system[Nintendo 3DS] affordable especially for parents looking to buy for their kids," said Mr. Kimishima in regards to the console.
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We expect that demand to continue during this fiscal year as well, so we will continue to sell the product."
In regards to the Nintendo Switch, and how the 3DS will be handled as a handheld console in its own right, Mr. Kimishima mentions tht the Switch is a home gaming system that can also be a portable console and that this whole situation may change if the Switch "
grows from being a one-per-household system to a one-per-person system." Which makes a lot of sense, but the thing about the Nintendo Switch is that, while it still serves the purpose of a handheld, the system costs $300 as opposed to the Nintendo 3DS' $80 price.
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The price of the Nintendo Switch is not something with which most parents would a system for every one of their children in a short period of time. Moving forward, we will work to ascertain what kinds of play people want at which price points," said Kimishima, adding that while there's still demand they will continue supporting the Nintendo 3DS, and that he sees the system coexisting with the Nintendo Switch at this point in time.
This should clear things up as Kimishima firmly believes that the Nintendo 3DS still has a lot of life in it, regardless of the Nintendo Switch's success, and it's all because of its accessible price. At the end of the day, it's still consumers the ones that will have the last say in this and whether they keep supporting the console or not.