Standard New Nintendo 3DS Production Discontinued in Europe
Following the announcement of the production discontinuation of the standard New Nintendo 3DS in Japan earlier this week, Nintendo has confirmed that the product will also discontinue its European supply. Without a doubt, since the handheld console burst into the scene in 2011, the Nintendo 3DS and 2DS have been a huge success. Although, upon the release of the New Nintendo 3DS, it’s very blatant that the XL model has done a substantial amount of the heavy sales duty, and the standard version is severely lacking. As of March 31st, the New Nintendo 3DS XL model has brought in over 10 million units in sales, as opposed to the standard, smaller version’s staggering 2.49 million units.
Relayed by GameSpot via Tom’s Hardware, Nintendo explained to Tom’s Hardware that the production fluctuation “does not affect Nintendo of America territories,” the region only has limited edition supplies in the system as “special offerings” in the first place. Nintendo also claimed that “there are no changes to the sales status of New Nintendo 3DS XL, Nintendo 2DS or the upcoming New Nintendo 2DS XL.” The fusion of the 2DS and the New Nintendo 3DS XL will bring the newest addition to the 3DS/2DS family, the New Nintendo 2DS XL, to life on July 28, 2017.
Although production of one of the systems is being put at a standstill, Nintendo still has a growing collection of killer games coming to the system, with Hey! Pikmin and Metroid: Samus Returns being perfect examples.
Nintendo hasn’t expressed any other explanation as to why they have officially discontinued the production of the system in two regions this week, but as the Nintendo Switch continues to sell out across the globe, it’s most likely that Nintendo is shifting its production focus towards its most recent console release.