3DS Discontinued

I was kind of expecting it to finish up with production next year, but this isn't surprising. Nintendo 3DS has been around since the early part of 2011. Now in 2020, The Big N has decided to pull the plug on it, giving it one of the more interesting lifespans of any of their handhelds. Obviously coming after the original DS, it would have been difficult to find the next hook. Three dimensional handheld was their gimmick.

It might be hard to believe, but I do kind of remember the complaints about the price. At 250 dollars, it was a bit out of reach for a handheld. The price drop that summer helped stabilize bleeding of sales and it caught on. Just not to the level of the DS. It's problem I think is not many companies jumping in on the handheld bandwagon. Support from Sega, Square Enix, Capcom, and a few others did get releases out there, but in comparison of library size, it didn't get the level of DS. However, eShop had old titles and a share of original games.

If people were to look back at it, I do think there will be a sense of appreciation. Unfortunately, there will be the question of "what if?" put into it. If Western companies were more involved. European publishers or developers like Ubisoft or Rockstar if they would have done anything. The usage of the 3D and if customers enjoyed it. If online was a substantial improvement over the DS. There are stuff in some people's eyes that could have been better.

Where does Nintendo go from here?  I don't think there will be a handheld for a while. Of course, the hybrid of the Switch will be something that will keep customers interested. Why waste resources to make unique versions on a handheld and a console? It is said that Nintendo is not getting rid of online immediately. I'd give it a good two to three years similar to the Wii before it disappears. Whether there's new digital games, I'm not sure. PlayStation 3 got a digital game release back in August. Until then, the 3DS will get its love. Try and get some of the titles now before the prices skyrocket.