Nintendo Japan officially ends 3DS repairs after ‘running out of parts early’

3DS and 3DS XL repairs were supposed to stop at the end of March

Nintendo Japan has officially stopped repairing broken 3DS and 3DS XL units, three weeks earlier than it previously announced it would.

The company announced on Tuesday that it had already run out of the parts it needed to repair the systems, and so it can no longer repair any more handhelds.

“Due to the fact that we no longer have repair parts in stock, we will no longer be able to accept repairs for the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 3DS XL as of March 8, 2021,” a statement reads. “We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, and thank you for your understanding.”

Nintendo had previously announced in late February that support for 3DS and 3DS XL repairs would end on March 31, due to “the difficulty in securing the necessary parts for repair”.

The company had warned customers at the time that the date may be brought forward, telling them: “Please note that even before the above date, we may not be able to repair your product if the necessary parts are no longer in stock. Please be aware of this in advance.”

This news means that all colours of the 3DS and 3DS XL hardware can now no longer be repaired via Nintendo’s own repair service in Japan. Nintendo will continue to repair New 3DS, New 3DS XL and 2DS models for now.

Nintendo officially discontinued all models of the 3DS in September last year, confirming that production had ended earlier in the year as all attention was being placed on the Switch.

According to Nintendo’s financial reports, the 3DS had sold 75.08 million units worldwide as of the end of March 2019, but that number had only reached 75.77 million by the end of March 2020.

Meanwhile, Nintendo reported earlier this month that 80 million Switch units had already shipped worldwide, and that it was now aiming to overtake the Wii’s total sales of 101.63 million units