In spite of Nintendo's recent plans that involve mobile platforms, including a partnership with DeNA to develop mobile games and the announcement of its first smartphone game, the company currently has no intention to abandon its Nintendo 3DS series of handheld systems, Nintendo's Scott Moffitt, executive vice president of sales and marketing, revealed in a recent discussion with The Washington Post.
"Nintendo 3DS is here to stay," Moffitt said, adding that gaming on smartphone devices and its handheld hardware platform are not mutually exclusive. Instead, the two "can happily coexist, to the benefit of all gamers." In an apparent effort to assuage any concerns about the longevity of the Nintendo 3DS, he also stated that Nintendo's goal with its entrance into the mobile platform market is to ultimately "bring people to our dedicated platforms," which includes the 3DS itself.
From the perspective of Nintendo's consumers, these comments may be commendable. However, Moffitt has made it clear that the company's dedication to the 3DS series is based on more than the interest of its consumers. Sales of the 3DS are higher this year than last year, but more important is the fact that it has outsold both Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4 consoles in terms of combined hardware sales.
While this news may hardly be surprising to some readers—after all, the first iteration of the 3DS was released over two years before either the PS4 or Xbox One were—it is nevertheless impressive when one considers the target audiences of the three gaming systems; the 3DS is the only system out of the three that is designed for a casual gaming audience. Furthermore, the 3DS directly competes with mobile games and platforms, unlike the PS4 or the Xbox One, which makes its dominance all the more impressive.
When one takes these things into account, it is no wonder that Nintendo wants to keep the 3DS series of handhelds around, in spite of its recent mobile announcements.
Source: The Washington Post
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