It seems that 3D may not be the future that Nintendo envisaged as sales of the 3DS may be decreasing, according to Nintendo head-honcho Satoru Iwata.

This isn’t to say that they will be completely removed from future consoles though; Iwata said to The Independent that he doesn’t expect them to be key components in future hardware, just a minor one.

“I think when we launched the 3DS there was a kind of 3D boom, which is perhaps slightly on the wane again, but there are plenty of people out there that create 3D video and I think that some of those who create and distribute 3D video would be very interested in the 3DS XL,” Iwata said.

“So, now we’ve created the 3DS and 3DS XL and also have some games out there that are really using that 3D effect that we can see, from my point of view, that it’s an important element. But as human beings are this kind of surprise effect wears off quickly, and just have this 3D stereoscopic effect isn’t going to keep people excited.”

Iwata said that he also doesn’t see the 3D visuals being a selling point for new handheld systems either.

“It’s nice to have good graphics but not necessarily on their own, so I don’t think we’ll present [3D graphics] as one of the key features of our consoles but will probably stick with 3D as one of the minor elements of our consoles in the future.”

One thing that should be noted though is that the 3DS is actually more powerful than the DS and is really the next iteration of the DS architecture, therefore if sales are dwindling, perhaps it’s Nintendo’s reliance on pushing 3D and not releasing the sort of games DS owners would feel they want to buy a 3DS for?