With the release of a new, high profile console like the Switch, the fate of older generation Nintendo devices were sure to be questioned. It shouldn't come as a surprise, however, that Nintendo is still as committed as ever to its popular handhelds. In a recent interview with IGN, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime announced the company's continued support for the 3DS platform.

"We will certainly be announcing new titles for the 3DS platform, and we’ll do that continuously,” Fils-Aime began. “Some things that will be announced at E3. There will be some that we announce after E3. For us, E3 is an important event but it’s not the one defining moment,” he continued. “Obviously with Nintendo Direct, we’ve created means to speak directly to our consumer base. We want to provide news and information when we believe it’s most relevant.”

When asked by IGN, Fils-Aime confirmed this support would extend through the rest of 2018

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While Nintendo will certainly have a presence at the trade show, the company has already announced it once again has no plans to organize a large-scale press conference at E3. Instead, it will continue to rely on Nintendo Direct to more intimately communicate with its consumers – a strategy that has been worked well.

IGN went on to ask Fils-Aime about whether the company intended to add new titles to Nintendo Selects, a line of older titles sold at a lower cost than new ones.

“In terms of Nintendo Selects, we think the line is very strong right now,” Fils-Aime responded. “We need to evaluate for new potential additions, but we’ve got nothing to announce right now.”

Nintendo Selects could be helpful in pushing sales of the newly announced 2DS XL, a slightly less expensive version of its 3D cousin, but with larger screens and the ability to fold like the 3DS.

This topic moved the conversation into similar territory, the Virtual Console. IGN asked Fils-Aime about Nintendo's plans to include more classic titles into the Virtual Console library of its various handhelds.

“We know that there is tremendous interest in this overall area. We're blessed with having a tremendous legacy of content that we've launched across our various platforms,” Fils-Aime said. “We've got nothing to announce right now in terms of Virtual Console offerings, whether it's on 3DS or Switch, but we know there's a tremendous amount of interest in this area.”

In related news, Nintendo has announced that Pokemon Sun and Moon has shipped 15.44 million units worldwide. The company credited the popularity of the title as a large factor in accelerated sales of the 3DS hardware in 2017.

Source: IGN