Nintendo Of Europe Halts New Nintendo 3DS Production

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Nintendo of Europe has stopped production on the New Nintendo 3DS. (Yes, that is the product's official name: "New Nintendo 3DS.") The company plans to continue making other members of the 3DS lineup, including the upcoming New Nintendo 2DS XL, but this could be a sign of a shifting focus to the Switch.

Nintendo has effectively owned the handheld gaming market for the last few years. Sony hasn't released a followup to the PlayStation Vita that debuted in 2011, which means the Nintendo 3DS lineup hasn't really faced any competition for a while. Nintendo has capitalized on that opportunity with several models: the Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo 3DS XL, Nintendo 2DS, New Nintendo 3DS, New Nintendo 3DS XL, and New Nintendo 2DS XL.

Now, the New Nintendo 3DS appears to be going the way of the dinosaur. GameSpot reported that production is halting worldwide, which Nintendo of Europe confirmed. We asked Nintendo about plans for the New Nintendo 3DS in North America and received the following statement in response:

“This announcement does not affect Nintendo of America territories, as the model in question was only sold in limited quantities as special offerings. There are no changes to the sales status of New Nintendo 3DS XL, Nintendo 2DS or the upcoming New Nintendo 2DS XL, which launches on July 28.”

The company declined to comment on why New Nintendo 3DS production is ending. Nintendo may simply have wanted to avoid even more confusion for the New Nintendo 2DS XL--the average person might not draw the distinction from the new (lowercase) handheld and the New (uppercase) Nintendo 2DS XL. But there's also a chance that the company wants to free up resources so it can ramp up production on the Switch.

The Switch has been sold out at many retailers since its March debut. Nintendo has repeatedly said it plans to increase its output of the console in response to consumer demand, but according to The Wall Street Journal, the company has to compete with Apple and other smartphone manufacturers for NAND flash. No NAND means no Switch, which means a lot of unhappy people who can't get their hands on the device.

That doesn't come as much of a surprise--we're currently in the midst of the worst NAND shortage in history. Even Samsung, which has its own fabs, has delayed products because of the shortage. Other companies must be fighting over scraps, then. Perhaps ending the New Nintendo 3DS' production could help free up just a little bit of NAND for the Switch, which costs more and is more widely available than its handheld-only counterpart.

Besides the statement we shared above, Nintendo wouldn't comment on what this move means for the Nintendo 3DS lineup nor the Switch.

Nathaniel Mott
Nathaniel Mott
Freelance News & Features Writer

Nathaniel Mott is a freelance news and features writer for Tom's Hardware US, covering breaking news, security, and the silliest aspects of the tech industry.

6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • PancakePuppy
    "which means a lot of unhappy people who can't get their hands on the device" So, business as usual at the big N, huh?
    Reply
  • koga73
    I don't really see this as a big deal. The new 3ds is offered in small size and XL. I have the XL and imagine most consumers are purchasing this model which is why they are stopping production on the smaller version. Not to mention they also have two versions of the 2DS
    Reply
  • cryoburner
    19938596 said:
    Perhaps ending the New Nintendo 3DS' production could help free up just a little bit of NAND for the Switch, which costs more and is more widely available than its handheld-only counterpart.
    Considering that the New 3DS only contains 1GB of internal flash memory, along with a 4GB Micro SD, I doubt that would make much of an impact, compared to the Switch that contains 32GB, or newer smartphones that can contain 64GB or more. The Switch might cost more, but Nintendo likely makes more profit off the sale of a 3DS than they do a Switch, at least in the short term.

    More likely, they are just ramping down production in anticipation of the Switch largely taking over the handheld side of the market over the next year or so, at least in terms of new hardware sales. The 3DS came out over 6 years ago, and the DS came out 6 years before that. Nintendo usually operates on a roughly 6 year cycle, so it's simply nearing the end of its run, and the Switch will be taking its place. I suspect they might even launch a more compact version of the switch before long. Maybe it won't have the dock, or removable controllers, but will play the same games, albeit in a slightly smaller form factor.
    Reply
  • number1guy
    "(Yes, that is the product's official name: "New Nintendo 3DS.")"

    Oooookay? *rolls eyes*
    Reply
  • redgarl
    The new is having an additional joystick and triggers. It's also more capable graphically. It can run Wii games like Xenoblade.

    Honestly, they should had just release the XL.
    Reply
  • DSpider
    "The company declined to comment on why New Nintendo 3DS production is ending."

    Probably because of MagnetPWN? If it's a hardware exploit, there's only two things they could do: new hardware revision or stop manufacturing it, and they chose the latter. It was getting kind of crowded anyway ("old" 3DS, "old" 3DS XL, New 3DS, New 3DS XL, 2DS, 2DS XL, New 2DS, and soon New 2DS XL, fuck me...).
    Reply