Doug Bowser: Nintendo to support 3DS into 2020, Joy-Con drift talk, focusing on Switch Online over retro systems

The Verge published a new interview today with Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser. Among the topics discussed were 3DS support, Joy-Con drift, and the decision to focus on Switch Online over retro systems as we saw with the NES and SNES Classic Editions.

We’ve rounded up quotes from these topics below. For the full interview, head on over to The Verge here.

On 3DS support…

“We continue to look at the 3DS family, both hardware and games, as a strong entry point for some consumers. And we’re seeing that. As long as consumer demand is there, we’ll continue to provide both hardware and software on the front. We’re certainly not going to say it today (that the 3DS is a dead platform). I think time will tell. We will continue to support 3DS this holiday and into 2020.”

On Joy-Con drift issues…

“Our goal is always, always to create quality products, and products that ensure gamers are having a great experience. We are continuously looking at ways to improve our products as we go forward, but in the end we want consumers to have a great experience. And if in any case they’re not having that experience, we encourage them to contact our customer support groups and we’ll do our best to help them through that. That has been how we’ve been handling our consumers over the last few months as issues like this have arisen, and we believe that consumers are finding their way back to great gameplay experiences.”

On whether we’ll ever see another tiny plug-and-play retro console…

“Our focus right now is absolutely on our dedicated platforms such as Nintendo Switch Lite and our flagship Nintendo Switch. I think with the gameplay experiences you saw with some of our classic consoles that we launched a few years ago, they’re now available on Nintendo Switch Online, and this is where our focus will be.”