‘Well’ is debatable
So the 3DS is currently getting passed over at Nintendo with a focus on both the Switch and mobile arena. Nintendo has moved over pretty much all of their efforts to the latter platforms, and had nothing to announce, 3DS-wise, at E3 this year. So is it fully dead? Probably, but Nintendo is still hoping people will buy some hardware before the fork gets stuck in officially.
When Time asked new NOA president Doug Bowser about the 3DS at E3 2019, he gave a very political (and sufficiently Reggie) answer: “At this point, we have no games to announce on 3DS at this show, and in fact we’re not really showing 3DS content here, because it is all about Nintendo Switch. But our 3DS business continues to do quite well. Retailers continue to support both the hardware and the software. And as long as there’s consumer demand for 3DS, we’ll continue to support it. In fact, we believe it’s a great entry point for young gamers. A 2DS at $79 with a game included is a great value proposition for a young gamer coming into the Nintendo ecosystem.”
That’s pretty much what Nintendo has been saying the past few years as they try to squeeze as much as they can out of the portable. I’ve accepted that Nintendo has moved on, but a handful of third party developers have managed to keep the system alive in their stead. This year the big supporters include Atlus and Level-5, who have localized a number of their previously released in Japan RPGs despite the slowing hardware sales.
Vblank Entertainment has been a bit more bold, planning to release a 3DS port of the brand new Shakedown: Hawaii later this year. And of course, Comcept still owes us a 3DS (and Vita) port of Mighty No. 9.
Nintendo’s Doug Bowser Talks Switch Success [Time]
