Well...sort of.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/39394/nintendo-responds-to-new-3ds-release-questions
Nintendo has officially released a statement regarding the New 3DS model.
"Different territories make their own business decisions regarding individual products and timing" the statement given to Kotaku says. "We think New Nintendo 3DS XL makes the most sense for our market. Nintendo makes different systems at different price points for a whole range of consumers, and New Nintendo 3DS XL simply expands those choices even further."
When asked if there were any plans for a New Nintendo 3DS release in North America, the answer simply was that they had "nothing to announce at this time".
Additionally, I believe Reggie revealed that retailers are not too fond of all the different SKUs. They may not want to carry five different 3DS models.
I could see them pushing the taco to where the 2DS is in terms of price, maybe try to put the 2DS at like a $70 budget price.Additionally, I believe Reggie revealed that retailers are not too fond of all the different SKUs. They may not want to carry five different 3DS models.
Five different models doesn't make sense but why would all five co-exist? The 2DS didn't take off like expected so they can probably ditch it. Even if they don't, they effectively should replace the normal 3DS and 3DS XLs with the New models. There is no reason to have five models as the two newest models in terms of practicality replace two of the older ones. NOA is keeping the New 3DS off shelves to sell the dated original 3DS model instead? That's idiotic. Just discontinue the old inferior model.
Is NOA going to seriously continue to push the old 3DS? Devs won't make games for the New 3DS unless it builds a userbase but if the older model is still for sale for less money and there are hardly any games it can't play what incentive is there for people to upgrade? It reminds me of Motion+ where we all thought this was going to be the new standard for newer Wii games and it was hardly used at all. Is the New 3DS a new standard or will it be a glorified scam with only a handful of exclusive titles? If the New 3DS is to have any actual value then that should be the new standard where stores don't carry old 3DS's anymore. Right now NOA should not be manufacturing any old 3DS's (except maybe the 2DS) and sending them to stores. It should be the New 3DS or nothing. All old models should just be the pre-existing store stock getting cleared out.
NOA is keeping the New 3DS off shelves to sell the dated original 3DS model instead? That's idiotic. Just discontinue the old inferior model.Existing inventory doesn't suddenly disappear just because a new model is released. There's bound to be some overlap and retailers, that collectively balked at carrying SKUs for different colors, probably don't want five variations of essentially the same product for any duration of time. It makes sense to sell New 3DS XL because the XL models tend to sell better. The standard New 3DS also has those faceplates. Do retailers want to carry those along with all the other 3DS stuff?
Right now NOA should not be manufacturing any old 3DS's (except maybe the 2DS) and sending them to stores. It should be the New 3DS or nothing. All old models should just be the pre-existing store stock getting cleared out.Well, that isn't really Nintendo of America's call since it doesn't manufacture hardware. The original 3DS models may (and probably will) get discontinued later this year, but I'm not sure what the rush is. Nintendo of America would be replacing the model that sells less than the XL model with a different model that sells less than the XL model. It's less of a priority.
