Nintendo has officially discontinued 3DS

Nintendo has discontinued every model of its Nintendo 3DS handheld, nine years after its launch in 2011.

In a statement issued to VGC’s network partner GamesIndustry.biz, Nintendo confirmed that production on the handheld had ended earlier this year.

“We can confirm that the manufacturing of the Nintendo 3DS family of systems has ended,” a spokesperson said. “Nintendo and third-party games for the Nintendo 3DS family of system will continue to be available in Nintendo eShop, on Nintendo.com and at retail.

“The existing library of more than 1,000 Nintendo 3DS games contains many critically acclaimed titles and can provide years of content to explore and enjoy.”

In total, Nintendo has sold over 75 million 3DS consoles worldwide, which is less than half of its predecessor, the hugely popular Nintendo DS, but still a successful return given the rise of the mobile market.

3DS received several iterations throughout its lifespan, including the 3DS XL, improved New 3DS and stripped-back 2DS XL.

Last year Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser insisted the company wasn’t giving up on 3DS, despite failing to announce any new games for the platform at that year’s E3 show.

Nintendo expected to sell just one million 3DS units in the business year ending in March 2020, down from 2.55 million units in the previous year and 6.4 million units the year before that.

As sales of the aging handheld continued to decline, Nintendo discussed the possibility of attracting more handheld gamers to Nintendo Switch.

Company president Shuntaro Furukawa said during an April 2019 financial results briefing: “Since Nintendo Switch can be played in handheld mode, [our 2019] titles will potentially give consumers who previously played games on handheld systems a reason to purchase Nintendo Switch.”