Nintendo pledges to keep making games for Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo’s new console-handheld hybrid, Nintendo Switch, won’t be a replacement for its current handheld platform, the Nintendo 3DS, company president Tatsumi Kimishima said in a recent investor briefing (PDF). Nintendo will continue to develop games for the 3DS family of systems, he said in response to continued speculation that the Switch will wholly replace the handhelds.

That’s something Kimishima also said shortly after the Switch was unveiled in October.

“Thanks to our software, the 3DS hardware is still growing. So that business still has momentum,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg. “And certainly rather than being cannibalized by the Switch, we think the 3DS can continue in its own form.”

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime reiterated that philosophy in a recent interview with Polygon at the company’s Switch event.

“Our intention has always been to have Nintendo 3DS and 2DS side by side with the Switch,” Fils-Aime said. “It's great that we have even more momentum [with the 3DS] than we anticipated, but it's always been our position to have these two products side by side.”

Kimishima’s comments this week were more direct, and once again reinforced Nintendo’s outlook on the 3DS and Switch co-existing.

“We have heard speculation that Nintendo Switch will replace the Nintendo 3DS, as both are game systems that can be played outside the home, but Nintendo 3DS has unique characteristics that differ from those of Nintendo Switch,” Kimishima said. “Furthermore, the price points and play experiences offered by the two systems are different and we do not see them as being in direct competition. We plan to continue both businesses separately and in parallel.”

Kimishima pointed to a list of announced titles currently in the works for 3DS, which includes Ever Oasis, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Mario Sports Superstars and Pikmin. And there’s more to come.

“We will have several follow-up titles from popular franchises on Nintendo 3DS and we are developing many other unannounced titles to continue to enrich the software lineup going forward,” Kimishima said.

Nintendo says it has sold 62 million 3DS hardware units worldwide.