The Louvre Stops Renting Out Nintendo 3DS Consoles, Which Helped Visitors Navigate the Massive Museum for 13 Years

Available since 2012, the handheld gadgets are being retired in favor of a new system—but so far, the Paris museum hasn’t revealed any details about the replacement

Sarah Kuta | Daily Correspondent

September 16, 2025

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For the past decade, visitors to the Louvre could rent a Nintendo 3DS console for personalized tours, audio commentary and additional information about more than 700 artworks at the famed Paris museum.

Now, the Louvre is getting rid of the handheld gadgets, reports Le Monde’s Pierre Trouvé. On September 1, the Nintendo 3DS consoles were “retired” to make way for a new audio guide, according to the museum’s website.

The Louvre and Nintendo began working together in 2012, in what Vice’s Luis Prada describes as “one of the most bizarre but charming cultural crossovers.” At the time, the museum replaced its traditional audio guides with 5,000 Nintendo 3DS handheld consoles, which had debuted a year earlier.

The interactive gadgets were loaded with more than 30 hours of audio commentary, plus a multimedia library featuring videos, images and 3D models of some of the museum’s artwork, per ARTnews’ Harrison Jacobs. The devices also used geolocation to create custom tours based on users’ positions within the museum. They were available for just €6 (about $7) per visit and included information in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Japanese, Korean and Chinese, according to Engadget’s Mariella Moon.

The new offering was so popular that, in 2013, Nintendo created a downloadable Louvre guide for fans to purchase and use remotely. Company executives also starred in a 12-minute Nintendo Direct video about the partnership.

Nintendo Direct - Nintendo 3DS Guide: Louvre

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However, in 2020, as the Nintendo Switch gained traction, Nintendo stopped making the 3DS family of systems. Many museums began offering mobile apps that users could download to their personal smartphones, rather than providing separate digital guides.

So far, the museum has not revealed any information about its Nintendo 3DS replacement. But while it transitions to the new offering, audio guides won’t be available at the Louvre from now through October 21.

Meanwhile, the Louvre, which is the most visited museum in the world, continues to grapple with overtourism. It made headlines this summer when its staff went on strike, arguing that the museum was overcrowded and understaffed.

Last year, 8.7 million art aficionados visited the Louvre, more than twice the number of visitors it was designed to accommodate, per the Associated Press’ Thomas Adamson. The museum has limited the number of guests who may visit on a given day to 30,000 since June 2022. However, even with the cap in place, tourists still face long lines and crowded galleries.

French President Emmanuel Macron has developed a multiyear plan to improve conditions at the Louvre. But workers say the proposed $800 million expansion—which includes a special room for Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa—is too little too late. Construction isn’t expected to finish until 2031.

“We can’t wait six years for help,” Sarah Sefian, a front-of-house gallery attendant and visitor services agent, told the AP during the strike in June. “Our teams are under pressure now. It’s not just about the art—it’s about the people protecting it.”

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Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.