With the announcement of the new Nintendo 3DS last week, a rumor cropped up that said Nintendo was considering releasing it as the first region-free hardware from the company. This led many to speculate if Nintendo was considering reversing its policies on region-locking for the Wii U as well. Sadly, that seems not to be the case, as a Nintendo representative has confirmed that the new Nintendo 3DS will be region-locked just like the Wii U and the old Nintendo 3DS.
The confirmation of region-locked systems was given to GameSpot, who reached out to the company to confirm whether or not they would be sticking with the policy. For now it looks like region-locking will remain one of the downsides of owning Nintendo hardware, despite the numerous petitions and movements fans have set up hoping to get Nintendo to re-consider their stance on region-locking when competitors offer region-free hardware.
