Nintendo Sees a 'Future in Handheld' - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 10 July 2017 / 5,323 Views
Nintendo of America head of marketing Doug Bowser in an interview with Paste Magazine believes there is still a future in dedicated handheld devices like the Nintendo 3DS.
"The Switch is off to a great start," said Bowser. "We’ve seen people engaging the Switch in a number of different ways, and we’ve been given some raw data that I won’t get into, but across the spectrum, some never take it out of its cradle, others use it as a portable device, but a lot of people are right in the middle, with a balance between home and portable play.
"We absolutely believe there’s still a future in handheld, and so we’re investing in it. Couple things: you got an install global base of about 66 million units [for the 3DS]. We’re in the seventh year of the cycle. And we’re going to actually install another 6 million units this year. So that userbase will grow by 10% this year. We have a catalog of a thousand games. We’re launching the 2DS XL, which takes the best of the 2DS and the best of the XL, and brings it together for that user that doesn’t want a 3DS experience, but wants a sleeker clamshell based model. And it delivers that for $149.
"So, we’re still investing in hardware. And with the announcements you’ve seen this week, we’re obviously still investing in software too."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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I think 3ds n vita are the last portable console.Since the popularity of android and ios the portable gaming market has been going down pretty badly.Sure there are games being made but i think the era of traditional portable systems is over and mobile gaming is considered the future of portable gaming.I would like to see a new portable console from both sony n nintendo but i doubt sony would be willing to gamble again after the vita and nintendo already has a new portable console so it probably wont happen
Well the title here is just a touch misleading. It gives the impressoon they have big visions for a dedicated handhelds but the actual things he said refer pretty much entirely to the 3DS line and the immediate future.
Well, hopefully they do so, as Switch is a handheld.
the 3DS/Switch combo has opened a cheap and premium way to access Nintendo's games. Yes, the handheld market still has potential. This doesn't automatically mean Nintendo is gonna make a Nintendo 4DS XL
"the 3DS/Switch combo has opened a cheap and premium way to access Nintendo's games"
Not entirely sure on that. I was paying nearly £300 for my 3DS at the time Pokemon X/Y came out and the games were not exactly cheap as chips. The Switch is about the same price here and the games from Nintendo end up going for £50 to nearly 60 a pop at my local GAME uk store. I'd say the 3DS is cheaper now than it was at launch, which can give a slightly cheaper access to Nintendo's titles, but if we were pulled back to launch day it would be a different story.
Considering your previous handheld has remained on top without much competition from the opposite device, it's a no brainer that you still see a reason to further invest, especially considering that your current device is more handheld than home console based in design.
Well obviously that's why you've released the Switch
