Louvre bids farewell to the audio guide on Nintendo 3DS: the console has been helping people explore masterpieces in the museum for over a decade

The Louvre in Paris is ending the era of the unique audio guide based on the Nintendo 3DS, which has helped millions of visitors discover masterpieces of world art for over a decade. From September 2025, this service will cease to operate, and a new system will take its place, the details of which are still kept secret.

Here's What We Know

The audio guide on Nintendo 3DS was first introduced in the Louvre in spring 2012 as an innovative way to explore the exhibition. For €6, visitors could rent a special device with the application installed, which not only showed an interactive map of the museum with geolocation, but also offered more than 30 hours of audio commentary, images and 3D models.

The guide, developed in collaboration with Nintendo and led by the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto, allowed visitors to choose themed tours: from exploring the most famous masterpieces, such as the Mona Lisa and Venus of Milo, to fascinating stories about ancient Egypt with humour and details of everyday life. Particular attention was paid to accessibility, with a video guide in French sign language for the hearing impaired.

In 2013, Nintendo even released a separate version of the app on its 3DS eShop so that users could take a virtual walk through the Louvre from the comfort of their own homes. At the same time, a special Nintendo Direct presentation dedicated to this project took place.

The Louvre has now officially announced that the audio guide on the New Nintendo 3DS will cease to work from September 2025 and will be replaced by a new system. It is not yet known whether it will be a new Nintendo device, such as the Switch Lite, or a completely different technology.

Source: Louvre