In the age of the Switch, the Nintendo 3DS refuses to die

The little system that could (continue selling despite age and competition). (credit: Kyle Orland)

About a year ago, we took a look at some historical sales data and publicly speculated that sales for the Nintendo 3DS would quickly drop after the Nintendo Switch launch. But while Switch sales continue at a blistering pace, someone forgot to tell the people to stop buying Nintendo's older portable.

Industry tracking firm NPD reported yesterday that 3DS sales in the United States are healthier than ever by some measures. In 2018, the system had its best January since 2014 in terms of dollar sales and since 2013 in terms of unit sales. This despite the fact that there were no major releases for the system in the month (though big games like Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon and Fire Emblem Warriors did come out just a few months ago).

It's hard to identify a trend in one surprisingly successful month, of course. But looking at 3DS sales more broadly shows the system continuing to find an audience in Switch's shadow. In the nine months following the Switch's late March 2017 launch, Nintendo shipped 5.86 million 3DSes worldwide. That's down just nine percent from the 6.42 million in sales over the same nine-month period in 2016, before the Switch was available. And it's down only a hair from 5.89 million shipments during the same period in 2015 when the 3DS was much newer.

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