If players were wondering whether or not Nintendo would take advantage of the Nintendo Switch’s release to start working on their next handheld gaming system, then those worries have now been put to rest with the reveal that Nintendo will continue developing Nintendo 3DS software after the Switch is released.
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Tatsumi Kimishima, the CEO of Nintendo, has insisted that development for the Nintendo 3DS will still be continuing, and will keep going well into 2017. Considering that many of Nintendo’s most popular games, such as Pokemon, Fire Emblem, and more are on that handheld system, it’s a fairly stable policy to keep putting out Nintendo 3DS software, at least until Nintendo can put out a new version of a handheld device.
The Nintendo 3DS has a lot of big games coming up for it too, with Poochy and Yoshi’s Woolly World (a port for the highly successful Wii U game Yoshi’s Woolly World), Ever Oasis, and Pikmin (the first of those games in several years), not to mention the extremely highly-anticipated Pokemon Sun and Moon, which will likely break records.
Pokemon X and Y, along with Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, have also proven the 3DS still has a ways to go, with both of them selling a combined 30 million units. Even with the Switch coming out, it’s a good decision by Nintendo to keep the 3DS in rotation, at least until they have something better that people will buy other than an upgraded version of the 3DS (even if that version does have a number of exclusive games).
While the Nintendo Switch is likely to sell very quickly and very well, provided Nintendo does it right, for now many people that either can’t afford a Switch or don’t want one will be sticking to their 3DS and the games on it, so it remains to be seen what other Nintendo 3DS software Nintendo will come up with in the meantime.
