Nintendo ends production of the regular New Nintendo 3DS in Japan

Production of the New Nintendo 3DS console has ended in Japan, according to a rather abrupt notice on the handheld’s official website (https://www.nintendo.co.jp/hardware/3dsseries/new3ds/index.html). Having only launched in 2014 to initially weak sales, which improved after a quick price cut, the New Nintendo 3DS was quickly usurped by the larger and more popular New Nintendo 3DS XL. 

At this moment in time it seems that only the regular-sized, New Nintendo 3DS is being discontinued. The New Nintendo 3DS XL, the New Nintendo 2DS XL and New Nintendo 2DS are all still in production. So, minor panic over for now.

This sudden ending of production comes on the day the New Nintendo 2DS XL is released in Japan, so it doesn’t come as much as a shock. The internal components are probably better being used in the New 2DS consoles. So far the whole 3DS family has shipped a frankly ridiculous 66.12 million units as of March 31, 2017. So it doesn’t look like Nintendo will be killing off production of the console as a whole just yet. Indeed, in an E3 interview with IGN, Nintendo of America’s Reggie Fils-Aime promised they’d support the 3DS family ‘well into 2018 and beyond‘.