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Update: After halting production of the New 3DS in Japan, Nintendo has now confirmed that it has also ended production in North America and Europe.
Speaking to Eurogamerand Polygon, representatives from Nintendo of Europe and Nintendo of America confirmed that the regular version of Nintendo’s New 3DS console has been discontinued. As per the original story, however, the New 3DS XL remains very much in circulation.
This announcement does not affect Nintendo of America territories, as the model in question was only sold in limited quantities as special offerings,” a spokesperson told Polygon. 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 28th.”
Original story:Nintendo has ceased production of its New 3DS in Japan, according to the platform holder’s official Japanese site. This includes both the regular white and black models as well as all special editions, according to a translation on Kotaku.
The New 3DS XL, however, is still alive and well, and remains the top model in Nintendo of Japan’s trio of handheld consoles above the soon-to-be-released New 2DS XL and regular 2DS.
With New 3DS hardware sales falling every week in Famitsu’s weekly chart data, the announcement doesn’t come as a huge surprise. Indeed, last week, Famitsu recorded just 303 New 3DS console sales, while the New 3DS XL continues to sell just under 10,000 units a week.
Even the regular 2DS is more popular than the New 3DS in Japan, with last week’s hardware sales hovering just above 2,000.
Together, the two New 3DS consoles have shipped a combined total of 12.31m units worldwide as of December 31st 2016. Of that figure, however, just 2.49m of them have been the regular New 3DS, putting its waning popularity in stark contrast to its larger sibling.
It’s not yet clear whether the New 3DS will also be ending its production run in other territories around the globe, but we’ll update this story with more information as soon as it’s available.
The New Nintendo 3DS first launched in Japan in October 2014 at the same time as the New 3DS XL. It then came to Europe in February of the following year.
