Nintendo 3DS colors are limited by Western retail, says Fils-Aime

Nintendo of America head Reggie Fils-Aime places the blame on North American retail practices for the lack of variety in Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL colors.

Speaking to IGN, Fils-Aime explained color variations are more prominent throughout Japan thanks to a tendency within the country to keep hardware behind the counter. Comparatively, Western retailers will generally place hardware on shelves that limit the amount of units that can be made available.

"It really comes down to the nuts and bolts of how we manage our [stock keeping units] at retail, and how we do it in a way that's effective for us and effective for our business partners," Fils-Aime said.

"You've visited retail in Japan. One of the key differences in Japan is that the hardware is that it's behind the counter. It's not out and about. So in that type of construct, you can have a lot of inventory behind the counter. It's a lot easier to support multiple colors.

"In our [North American] market, it's all out there on the shelf. When you visit our retail, if I had to try to have 25 different SKUs out there, Wal-Mart would kill me. So what that means is that we have to be more selective and more knowledgeable in how we handle different SKUs."

Only three colors are available for Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL in the U.S. and Canada, while Japan currently has five colors available for 3DS systems and
seven available for 3DS XL.