Dark Octave
Banned
If the XL is $140 standard then it's a wrap.
Jesus christ, Nintendo is out for blood.
Mercy!! Mercy!!
Jesus christ, Nintendo is out for blood.
Mercy!! Mercy!!
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3DS Retail Deals
- Thread starter TheNatural
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I use the term "sales" in reference to Black Friday sales, bundles, $199 and $179 price tags, etc.
Nintendo isn't fighting Vita with this price-cut - that situation is already what it is - they're presumably fighting their own situation with 3DS. That is, they're presumably unhappy with 3DS sales in NA and are trying to boost them. The weird lateness of this cut suggests to me they were getting some troubling feedback from retail on holiday sales to date.
OldJadedGamer
Banned
Just waiting on Animal Crossing. Your move Nintendo...
Oh, the Vita was featured in a lot of sales. I was going to point out the same thing, thanks for clearing that up.
frankie_baby
Member
Don't see why they'd go XL only when there's actually a significant market for portables that are actually portable
Aquamarine
Member
They're in Japan... there's a LOT of great titles that haven't made it over yet.
Alex
Member
The XL has solid battery life, hits that sweet spot that you should probably expect from modern portables in the 5~ish range, give or take based on settings. Now if they could include an appropriate battery with the Wii-U Pad, instead of the piece of shit they stuck in it.
ScreenSplitter
Member
No AC this Holiday is just unbelievably dumb. Paper Mario cannot carry Q3 and 4 on its own.
frankie_baby
Member
Doesn't seem like Sony could afford to do that though
As an XL owner, I would buy a regular sized 3DS with the XL's design changes in a red hot second.
No, not even close. 3DS had a good launch, which makes the LTD comparison look good. Recent dsales are much worse. For example,in the first half of FY2012 3DS shipped 1.39M to NA. Software shipments to NA were 6.75M. For comparison, in the first half of FY2006 (the comparable year), DS shipped 2.40M, and software was 11.94M. Here's the whole set of numbers from these periods:
Code:
DS 1H2006 3DS 1H2012 Difference
HW SW HW SW HW SW
Japan 461 2064 209 706 (252) (1358)
Americas 240 1194 139 675 (101) (519)
Other 309 1059 158 522 (151) (537)
Total 1009 4316 506 1903 (503) (2413)The DS didn't really take off until it hit $129 and it had very little competition back then. Nintendo's worst mistake was trying to move upstream: it's obvious that the typical Western handheld consumer is very price-sensitive.
Also, I believe overall sales of DD content can offer enough added profitability to support more aggressive price points.
HamPster PamPster
Member
A price drop this late in the holiday season seems desperate to me. Hopefully this desperation leads them to overhauling the eShop and account system to offer a viable alternative to iOS along with taking what ever steps they need to get Japanese publishers on the localization train - I imagine the first step is a better digital store. Its crazy XSeed still can't get Unchained Blades up, there must be some serious bullshit on Nintendo's end
Alex
Member
Reading all the random bits about sales and modernization and what kids want, etc, I'm always a little surprised no one has tried to moneyhat a dedicated portable version of Minecraft yet. That always seemed like something that'd do extremely well, to me, especially considering the mobile one sells insanely well despite being a massive piece of shit.
Colonel Mustard
Banned
I highly doubt that considering the turn-around on games like Bravely Default which took about a week from decision to launch. It's almost certainly on XSeed.
Spirit Icana
Member
Interesting move. I wonder how this will effect their bottom line though. Looks like Nintendo will be posting a loss come March and it won't just be Wii U to blame.
If they release a redesign next year, 3D should be on the list of things to go. It's not needed and it is driving up the price. Ah, but the thing is called 3DS. Dang, tough call. Maybe they should be bold and rename the system for the America's and relaunch it!
NSMB 2 should be selling systems, but people are probably tired of that same ole "bah bah" save the princess by running through the same ground, desert, ice, beach, forest, mountain, sky, lava levels in the exact same order yet again. Oh, but with even more "bah bah."
Vita is a non player, I don't know what's so fun about comparing 3DS to that in the America's anymore. 3DS has got serious problems selling in the America's that Nintendo needs to resolve. And I think they can do it with the right games and forming a decent library with variety. The hardware is a barrier to entry as well. The price going down is a good thing. Software prices are kinda high too, and the software ment for on the go play being merely ten dollars cheaper than console games (used to be anyway) is a tough sell for certain titles.
Pokemon 3DS might be able to give the system a decent boost since that's a valuable franchise that has proven to sell at $39.99 (Heart Gold/Soul Silver with a pack-in gadget). From there, it's going to be tough selling high priced games to an audience that are getting tighter on spending, and are used to $29.99 priced handheld games for children. Good luck, Nintendo of America.
If they release a redesign next year, 3D should be on the list of things to go. It's not needed and it is driving up the price. Ah, but the thing is called 3DS. Dang, tough call. Maybe they should be bold and rename the system for the America's and relaunch it!
NSMB 2 should be selling systems, but people are probably tired of that same ole "bah bah" save the princess by running through the same ground, desert, ice, beach, forest, mountain, sky, lava levels in the exact same order yet again. Oh, but with even more "bah bah."
Vita is a non player, I don't know what's so fun about comparing 3DS to that in the America's anymore. 3DS has got serious problems selling in the America's that Nintendo needs to resolve. And I think they can do it with the right games and forming a decent library with variety. The hardware is a barrier to entry as well. The price going down is a good thing. Software prices are kinda high too, and the software ment for on the go play being merely ten dollars cheaper than console games (used to be anyway) is a tough sell for certain titles.
Pokemon 3DS might be able to give the system a decent boost since that's a valuable franchise that has proven to sell at $39.99 (Heart Gold/Soul Silver with a pack-in gadget). From there, it's going to be tough selling high priced games to an audience that are getting tighter on spending, and are used to $29.99 priced handheld games for children. Good luck, Nintendo of America.
2006 and 2012 are not exactly comparable though, are they? The DS launched at the end of 2004 and the 3DS at the beginning of 2011, so those years should be offset a little. To make that comparison more fair, we should be comparing 3DS 1H2012 with a timeframe a few months earlier for the DS, right?
Those Japan numbers are pretty awful as well. Strike now Sony! While Nintendo is exposed!
Aquamarine
Member
The 3DS has already sold nearly 25 million units worldwide. That's already better than the GameCube's lifetime sales.
This price cut is trying to get WW sales to make the 50 million milestone.
Frankfurter
Member
Little Green Yoda
Member
Now they just need to release some games in NA that interest me
. Would love a true Lite revision too but if the XL version is only getting ~5 hrs of battery life...
and maybe lower the MSRP on said games
Graphics Horse
Member
Alex
Member
I find it doubtful you'll see another handheld get more than that, on average, until something gives with battery tech... or the other internals become so slimmed down and marginalized they can just stuff the entire thing full of batteries :lol
No, because if you shift them then you aren't accounting for the effects of seasonality, which is really important in the video game business. At the point of my comparison, the DS has one more quarter, but I'm not looking at any sort of cumulative number, so it really shouldn't make any material difference.
Aquamarine
Member
Nintendo is trying very hard to have the 3DS be a repeat of the DS...i.e. a seven year console lifecycle.
It's pretty obvious that's not going to happen. I see more a repeat of the GBA:
1. GBA released in 2001
2. GBA discontinued in 2006, five years later, and 81 million sales later
3. Successor released in late 2004
|
v
1. 3DS released in 2011
2. 3DS discontinued in 2016, five years later, and 81 million sales later
3. Successor released in late 2014
DeaconKnowledge
Member
More colors please.
evilromero
Member
Quite possibly the worst second autumn release list for Nintendo hardware ever.
Graphics Horse
Member
Yeah but DSi was part of that, 4 years after the DS launched. Played downloadable games, faster processor, cameras yadda yadda. So something akin to that might happen again if it seems worth it.
Little Green Yoda
Member
Unfortunately. :-(
But I was just thinking how low that number would get if a smaller revision does come out. Portable form factor vs battery life is such a harsh reality. </firstworldproblems>
Aquamarine
Member
The DSi is more akin to a remodel, like Game Boy -> Game Boy Pocket -> Game Boy Light
But the DS family of consoles lasted from late 2004 - 2011.
The GBA family was dead by 2006...
a Master Ninja
Member
Yep. Parents seem to be flocking to the small and cheap tablets this year.
Graphics Horse
Member
No it's like the Game Boy color, just without the color. They never pushed the exclusive features of the DSi very much but they were there. Erm, anyway, I think they'll make a new small 3DS before all of that, but it feels like the XL only just came out. Can't see it before next summer.
walking fiend
Member
3DS is dead unless it gets regular releases of good titles, which is most probably not going to happen from Western major developers as they are almost exclusively focused on AAA titles that aren't in any way portable to 3DS. And a lot of indie developers have already moved to Apps. Maybe unless they are able to produce small sidekick projects like with Epic Mickey or Castlevania.
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Personally, even if for $99, I don't see myself buying a 3DS XL, because it just doesn't have the games I want and I am not going to carry another device with myself that doesn't have the titles I want; at most 3 titles that I know I will be finishing. And if it's going to stay at home, I just can get another home console at almost the same price.
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Personally, even if for $99, I don't see myself buying a 3DS XL, because it just doesn't have the games I want and I am not going to carry another device with myself that doesn't have the titles I want; at most 3 titles that I know I will be finishing. And if it's going to stay at home, I just can get another home console at almost the same price.
outunderthestars
Banned
Interesting how people are reacting to this as a move of aggression and not desperation. The November sales figures must be rather alarming for them to price drop in the middle of the holiday season.
In totally unrelated news the iPad Mini remains sold out nationwide....
In totally unrelated news the iPad Mini remains sold out nationwide....
Graphics Horse
Member
The reactions to it being them combating the Vita are the funniest, but I'm sure most of them aren't serious.
boiled goose
good with gravy
No localize the freaking games and at least put tthem on the eshop.
Rehaul how u handle Digital content and I'm in.
Rehaul how u handle Digital content and I'm in.
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