3DS Selling Below Expectations

[Graham Mitchell]

this unfortunatley, ive been to acouple gamestops where moms inquire about it and have been told its like the old one, it just does 3d. also, the packaging on the games doesnt do enough to diferentiate itself from the old ones, ive even seen 3ds games mixed in with ds games, or in the ds section.

Yeah, I agree, that's an issue. The truth is, however, that the games themselves are at least on par with the PSP in terms of graphical muscle, but that point isn't getting across at all in their marketing. Hell, even the mainstream gaming magazines aren't commenting on it.

Ridge Racer is actually pretty impressive visually; it process real-time reflections off the windows and shiny surfaces of the cars. In the last generation, I only saw the Xbox doing the same thing.

[WCP]

It's the first and only then-new system I purchased without any games.

SSX and Smuggler's Run say Hi.

[Jehusephat]

Calling it the "3DS" was idiotic. Parents and Grandparents will dismiss it as a DS that now does 3D.

I know. When the Super Nintendo came out, my mom wouldn't buy me one because she thought it was just a regular Nintendo that sang showtunes.

[Shingetter]

I think that the system costs too much. $250 is just too much for a portable. Like others have said combine a high price with not-that-great software, which is about $10 higher than DS software. Nintendo gambled that people would rush out and get a new system and games, and will hopefully learn from this. I feel that Nintendo has always been pretty value conscious, and I think that this time they screwed up big time.

All of this.

[Swamperon]

I've not bought one yet, I intend to but here's why I've held off:

- No must have games.

E3 10 showed off some mouth watering games but now... where are they? Kid Icarus isn't due till after Summer, and OoT, which I will buy, I already own and isn't here till June. At least the Japanese have Layton.

Also, there isn't a game that makes 3D a must. Unlike Wii Sports which did a brilliant job for the Wii motion controls. It needs a 3D equivalent.

- Price.

Good greif the price. It's even worse here in the UK. £220?! I can buy a 360/PS3 for that. It should be around the £150 - 70 mark going by US$. It also doesn't help that Nintendo increased the price on purpose due to the E3 excitement.

- Models

We know a 3DS Lite is coming, which will solve a lot of the design/hardware issues being reported. And I think the almost annual release of a new DS model has not helped the 'casual' market either.

- Colours

A small issue but neither blue or black appeal in those shades. We saw a sexy green and purple 3DS at E3. Let's see them!

Having said that, 3.5 million is still impressive. And I will buy one... eventually.

[Blitzwing256]

I only buy a new system when theres a game on it that I just have to have, anounce a new metroidvania or something even remotely decent and i'm there, but nintendo hasn't released anything since the original ds that i've ever wanted to buy a system for. i ended up with a wii gamecube virtual boy but all 3 were flaming turds, so far this looks like it will be in the same box as the rest of em.

[Icarus Moonsight]

I still haven't seen a demo unit... And I've been looking. There's a lot wrong with this launch.

[retroguy]

I hope the 3DS doesn't go the way of Virtual Boy cause I am a big Nintendo fan, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did. What I'm going to do is keep an eye on the price and if it suddenly drops a whole bunch all at once (down to $150 say), then I'll know that they're probably dropping it and trying to unload as many as possible. That's the time to buy, before the Ebay jerks drive the price out of sight.

[Leo_A]

There is no way this is going the way of the Virtual Boy. Selling 3.6 million units instead of 4 million, or whatever the numbers are, is hardly an indication that this is failing.

Sales are slightly softer than expected. Nothing more, nothing less. It isn't a sign that this hasn't taken off or a sign that the system is going to die a quick death.

[jonebone]

There is no way this is going the way of the Virtual Boy. Selling 3.6 million units instead of 4 million, or whatever the numbers are, is hardly an indication that this is failing.

Sales are slightly softer than expected. Nothing more, nothing less. It isn't a sign that this hasn't taken off or a sign that the system is going to die a quick death.

Except 3.6 is a shipped number and 4 is an expected sales number. Actual sales are obviously nowhere close to 3.6 million because every store has a ridiculous amount of overstock.

[Tempest]

I think VG Cats said it best: http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=301

[Leo_A]

Except 3.6 is a shipped number and 4 is an expected sales number. Actual sales are obviously nowhere close to 3.6 million because every store has a ridiculous amount of overstock.

Nope

According to the news reports I just read (Included the link below), Nintendo expected to sell 4 million units and reported just selling 3.61 million units. Didn't see them saying 3.61 million units shipped anywhere.

Furthermore, if it had been 3.61 million units shipped, we'd probably be seeing the number intepreted as Nintendo not being able to manufacture them as quickly as they had anticipated to explain the 400,000 difference. Yet, they're not spinning it that way.

Price point for both games and system and a lack of must-have games are the two reasons for the slow-down, not a lack of marketing.

Clearly Nintendo doesn't think so.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6310441...es%3Btitle%3B6

[Gameguy]

I still haven't seen a demo unit... And I've been looking.

Same with me. I actually found one in a Best Buy but there was a kid playing it for 20 minutes so I left. I rarely ever go to Best Buy so I haven't bothered going back just for this. I haven't seen a display unit in any EB Games or any Wal-Mart, which is kind of surprising to me. Unless I come across one and get blown away by it I won't bother, I'm not that desperate to spend hundreds of dollars on something I don't really need.

[retroman]

i have a 3DS also, and have played it maybe a total of 4 hours...i have Pilot Wings and Street Fighter 4....both which are not bad games.

[The 1 2 P]

As others have said, the launch line up was quite possibly the worse of the last 10 years or so. Add that to the $250 price tag and you get alot less sales then they are use to. I'm interested to see how well it sells this holiday season though once the real games start rolling in.

[Oldskool]

Its funny this day and age 3.6 million consoles in a month is considered a bad thing.

[DuckTalesNES]

This thing is gonna sell a TON around xmas time. All the little kids are going to want one.

[WCP]

They need to do a MUCH better job advertising the thing. I have two boys, aged 10 and 8. They have no clue to the existence of the 3DS, and haven't heard about it from anybody at school. The only mention they have ever heard regarding the 3DS was me mentioning it to them, and they didn't have the slightest clue.

That tells you something...

[betamax001]

They should have launched it in November so they could spend more time building hype and advertising and having more games out for launch such as Zelda, Starfox and Kid Icarus. Launching in Spring just seems...weird...

[skaar]

90% sales drop in their second week... that says a lot.