It’s something we’ve been saying for ages now; The 3DS success depends on software, not it’s price. Though many are pretty happy with the 3DS current price – a reduction of 40% of its launch price less than a year ago – without a wealth of games, there’s very little incentive to buy one.
Ubisoft’s outspoken CEO Yves Guillemot has said the same thing.
“I think it’s a question of coming with enough games [more] than the price. For sure the price was too high and it was a big boost when they changed it, it really was a good idea.”
“Now we will see. When you look at the DS everybody was saying: ‘This machine is never going to sell,’ and after a year it took off rapidly. For sure there are competitors – iPhone and all the other machines – but it will depend eventually on software. If the software is good, it should do well.”
He could be right; the recent release of Super Mario 3D Land on the system in Japan has seen sales of the extra-dimensioned handheld spike, and the game itself sitting pretty at the top of the Japanese software charts. Games drive sales? Whodathunk it?
It’s a lesson Nintendo’s seem to have learned, with Nintendo of America’s own Reggie Fils-Aime admitting as much, and that we can expect better for the Wii U’s launch.
“The launch of the 3DS was very interesting: the portable earned great impressions at E3 2010, had excellent pre-order sales, and sold more than any portable system in its first week. So, we had many successes with the 3DS. But in terms of lessons learned, we need to ensure that we have a strong lineup of games when we release hardware – especially titles from Nintendo. And, looking back, we may not have offered the best lineup of games that we could have brought to the 3DS. It is also important that the digital resources of the hardware are available right away. With 3DS, this came later.”
Last Updated: November 10, 2011
