Nintendo has been on a hot streak of releasing high quality games the past several months, both for the Switch and the 3DS. However, now that the 3DS is no longer Nintendo's newest and hottest handheld console, priorities are due to change. However, even though attention has shifted to the Switch, Nintendo says it will continue to develop games for the 3DS, but console growth is going to take a back seat going forward.

Nintendo CEO Tatsumi Kimishima took the opportunity to speak about future plans for the 3DS during Nintendo's quarterly fiscal review. Unfortunately for 3DS fans, the news isn't damning, but it isn't hopeful either.

"We are, of course, continuing to develop new software, but we believe it is important to leverage the rich library of Nintendo 3DS series titles to drive sales with Nintendo 3DS owners."

It sounds like Nintendo wants to keep selling the consoles, but that most of its manpower is going to be redirected towards the newer, more powerful handheld system.

Nintendo doesn't have to worry too much about losing sales on the console, as the Switch doesn't provide any 3DS or Wii U backwards compatibility. As a result, anyone trying to get their hands on a Pokemon game from the last 7 years will still have to do so through the 3DS. It also helps that Nintendo is trying to position the 3DS as its budget console compared to the Switch.

Unfortunately for owners of the system, this monopoly on Pokemon games has ended. The release of Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon marks the last mainline Pokemon games that will be released for 3DS. From here on out, Nintendo is going to be making Pokemon games for the Switch, since it feels that Ultra Sun and Moon were the farthest the 3DS's hardware could be pushed, and don't want to be held back when making new entries in the series.

The last glimmer of good news for 3DS owners is that there is already future games announced for the system, chief among them being Detective Pikachu, which comes to the West in March.

Source: US Gamer