Nintendo ends production of 3DS

As we enter a new era of gaming with the imminent launch of Sony and Microsoft’s next-gen consoles this year, a handheld gaming platform of Nintendo has been officially terminated after almost a decade.

According to Nintendo’s Japanese website, the production of the Nintendo 3DS series has been discontinued. The Tokyo-based company now lists the iterations of the 3DS line (3DS LL, 2DS LL and 2DS) as “out of production.”

It also appears that the handheld system has been cleared from the main website of Nintendo. The only console that’s now featured on the site is the massively-successful Switch.

In a statement sent to Polygon, a spokesperson from Nintendo confirmed that the company has stopped the production of the 3DS gaming system, “We can confirm that the manufacturing of the Nintendo 3DS family of systems has ended. Nintendo and third-party games for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems will continue to be available in Nintendo eShop, on Nintendo.com and at retail. The existing library of more than 1,000 Nintendo 3DS games contains many critically acclaimed titles and can provide years of content to explore and enjoy.”

The news came after Nintendo announced that it’s working on an upgraded version of its Switch game console which will be released early next year. According to a Bloomberg report, the Tokyo-based company “has looked into including more computing power and 4K high-definition graphics.”

First released in 2011, the Nintendo 3DS is the successor to the equally-succesful Nintendo DS line of handheld consoles which debuted in 2004.

(Images from Nintendo)