With the launch of the Switch, Nintendo is attempting to cater to both home and portable gaming markets using a hybrid device. But in doing so, Nintendo created a problem for itself: what do they do with the 3DS?
The Switch will inevitably compete with the 3DS as your gaming travel companion, but both Tatsumi Kimishima, president of Nintendo, and Shinya Takahashi, general manager of the Entertainment Planning & Development Division at Nintendo, believe the two platforms can happily co-exist.
Both men were present to answer questions in the latest Nintendo Corporate Management and Financial Result Briefing Q&A session (PDF). They were asked specifically how they plan to " to make it so that Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch will coexist in the marketplace." And it looks as though the 3DS will be repositioned to cater specifically to younger children.
Kimishima made it clear he believes "parents will opt to choose Nintendo 3DS as their children's first video game system." He also points out that the "Nintendo 3DS is a different system from Nintendo Switch in terms of its shape, weight, price and the types and number of available software title," and "as a portable game device meets different needs and fits different markets than Nintendo Switch."
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Takahashi added that, "We have been developing new software titles for Nintendo 3DS, so please look forward to them." Suggesting that Nintendo will continue to develop new titles for the 3DS, but they will likely cater to younger children based on Kimishima's comments.
In other words, Nintendo wants the Switch to cater to teenagers right through to adult gamers, while the 3DS becomes the handheld that feeds into the Switch by getting children and parents used to buying Nintendo.
It seems unlikely third-party developers will stop developing for the 3DS in the short term. The handheld has sold over 60 million units worldwide, and there's still plenty of demand for games as over 4 million sales of Pokemon Sun and Moon in the US demonstrates.