13 years after the Louvre announced it was teaming up with Nintendo to create an audio tour of the world-renowned Parisian art museum guests could enjoy using 3DS handhelds, it’s been revealed the service is coming to an end this September.
The Louvre unveiled the partnership in December 2011, explaining it would be introducing 5,000 3DS machines equipped with custom software designed by Nintendo to replace the museum’s stock of traditional audio guides.
Starting in 2012, visitors could roam the museum’s halls with a 3DS in hand, listening to audio commentary detailing the artwork they encountered along the way. A more elaborate version, known as Nintendo 3DS Guide: Louvre, was commissioned and introduced the following year, providing an expanded 30 hours of audio, plus new visual material including 3D views and photographs of the museum and its exhibits.
GPS transmitters installed within the museum enabled guests who’d rented 3DS machines equipped with the software to learn more about nearby artwork based on their current location. Nintendo also released this version on the 3DS eShop, providing purchasers with a way to explore the Louvre from the comfort of their own home. The company even went as far as to release an Iwata Asks Q&A and air a special Nintendo Direct featuring Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata touring the Louvre and showing the 3DS guide software in action.
But now, with 3DS discontinued and Nintendo’s focus having long shifted to Switch and its imminent successor, the Louvre has announced the service’s impending demise. “The New Nintendo 3DS console audio guides will go out of operation in September 2025,” it revealed in a message on its website, “to be replaced by a new system.” It’s unclear if the museum’s partnership with Nintendo will continue in a different form – perhaps with Switch or the upcoming Switch 2 – or if it plans to introduce something completely different.
Switch 2, of course, arrives in less than a month on 5th June. And if you’re wondering, it’ll be approximately 16 times lighter than the Mona Lisa.
