It’s clear that the Switch Lite is a direct successor to Nintendo’s previous DS/3DS family of systems—as a dedicated handheld device that’s far more affordable than the original Switch, it’s plausible that Nintendo would be phasing out support for their older handheld devices.
However, Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser was interviewed by The Verve shortly after the Switch Lite reveal, and he mentioned that Nintendo has no plans to abandon the 3DS family so long as there’s demand for its support:
“We’ll continue to support our 3DS family of systems as long as there is demand.”
He made a similar comment not too long ago at E3 in his TIME interview:
“…our 3DS business continues to do quite well. Retailers continue to support both the hardware and the software. And as long as there’s consumer demand for 3DS, we’ll continue to support it. In fact, we believe it’s a great entry point for young gamers. A 2DS at $79 with a game included is a great value proposition for a young gamer coming into the Nintendo ecosystem.”
With Nintendo’s official position being that the 3DS family is still an important one for the company, it will be interesting to see if or how that changes after this latest handheld is released.
