With this in mind, it comes as a bit of a surprise to hear that Nintendo isn’t working on a 3DS follow up. Speaking to TIME, Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima revealed that the company is “not creating a successor to the 3DS right now.” Though Nintendo is still “thinking of portable systems” and the company is still “thinking of ways that we will be able to continue bringing portable systems out.” Kimishima stress again that “yes, we are thinking of different ways to continue the portable gaming business.”
Many players have already praised the comments by the Nintendo executive, saying that they love their handhelds and aren’t ready for the console to be sunset like the Wii U, which is ending production. As Pokemon developers are considering bringing the next Pokemon game to 3DS, fans will argue that the console still has much to offer yet and they don’t want to see Nintendo jump the gun on ending the console’s life cycle in order to launch a follow up handheld.
Others have even argued that Nintendo doesn’t need to release a 3DS successor – in the traditional sense at least – as the company will soon be releasing the Nintendo Switch. As has been highlighted in many Nintendo Switch commercials and trailers, the home console’s biggest selling point is that it has a portable tablet component that can be detached from the dock, allowing people to play their games on the go (or even on the toilet).
Although Nintendo continues to stress that the Nintendo Switch isn’t a 3DS replacement or a successor, it’s hard to disagree with suggestions that people will just buy a Switch instead of a 3DS if they want a handheld gaming experience from Nintendo. If the upcoming console does well in terms of sales then Nintendo may find that it makes more business sense to focus on the tablet’s portable gaming features rather than (eventually) creating a full 3DS follow up.
