Nintendo has revealed it didn't bring the New 3DS to North America as it wanted to create a clear distinction between models for consumers.
Speaking at Indiecade East (via Nintendo Life), the company's Damon Baker explained the controversial decision to only bring the New 3DS XL to the US while other territories got both models.
"Look, the face plates are super cool, but we're a different market," he explained. "Now we have clear differentiation between those three systems. Before, there was a very limited difference between the 3DS and 3DS XL other than size. It was the same resolution, same functionality... now, there's the 2DS, 3DS, and New 3DS XL, all of which have their own functionality and features.
"The different price points give it a clear message for consumers. The core audience... we weren't going to win with them on that decision. But we had to think about expanding the user base, we had to be able to market it and make it easy to pick up for consumers."
It's a decision that seems to have paid off so far; earlier this week the company revealed it's sold 335,000 units of the new handheld in the West since launch a week ago.
