Nintendo Switch and the future of dedicated portable consoles.

If there's enough demand for it, Nintendo will likely create a successor to the 3DS, though the Switch is extremely popular. Capitalism will determine it, most likely.

 

What if they make a Nintendo Switch mini?

 

I'm going to be really honest here. While it's very possible that I can be wrong as all heck, this is just from the best of my interpretation and also from the general feel how consumers are reacting the Switch via its sales so far versus any remaining excitement or hype around the 3DS.

That said, I'm highly doubtful that Nintendo will ever make a successor to the 3DS (with one exception which i will get into at the end of my post). Why would they? That's essentially making another console that may possibly overshadow the success of the Switch in which the whole point of the Switch is to be portable and easy to carry around everywhere. Why get a Switch when you can just buy (insert 3DS successor here)? Sure, you can argue Nintendo's getting money either way, but that sort of business move is one of the many reasons why the Wii U was an abysmal failure.

I think, if people want something cheaper and more portable, they'd just get a 3DS/2DS anyway. There's no point in making a successor because it's not like the 3DS line are failures or outdated, because they're not. They're huge successes, and Nintendo would be fools to kill off that success just for the sake of change. Not to mention they're still very playable and will be for quite a few years to come.

Yes, the 3DS line will eventually get to a point where it'll become completely irrelevant, but I don't see that happening for at least another half decade because as of this point, the Switch isn't likely to see a price drop and the 2DS as of currently is at a point where I'd say it's fairly afforable to your average person even on a moderate gaming budget.

Now it is possible that Nintendo may decide to create a handheld successor, but that will only happen when/if Switch sales stagnate to a point where Nintendo literally cannot generate any more interest.

 

Some people can’t afford a Switch so a 2DS and 3DS will be their best bet so both systems are a great success.

 

That's... a good question, and it's hard to say for sure, of course. I still think Nintendo will likely create a more powerful Switch-like console, simply because of how popular the Switch is currently and how it likely will be popular up until the end of its lifespan.

It's difficult for me to envision Nintendo going back to creating new handhelds again for this reason. In fact, it's possible that in the future, Nintendo just might make a more portable Switch which would render a DS-like handheld moot.