Newsbrief: The Nintendo 3DS is now the fastest-selling games console to reach 5 million hardware sales in Japan, taking exactly 52 weeks to do so.
According to data from tracking firm Media Create, and as translated by Andriasang, the latest Nintendo console reached this 5 million figure quicker than both the DS and the Game Boy Advance, which took 56 weeks and 58 weeks respectively.
It should be noted that this figure is actual sales from retailers to customers, rather than the number of consoles shipped to retailers.
I'm glad that, since it is selling, it seems like many games will end up on the 3DS and be home to many unique experiences like the DS was before it. The Vita may start selling when it has any good games, which I hope it gets, since competition's good...
I'm sure there is a way to spin this into negative news for Nintendo, c'mon Gamasutra commenters! I especially love the last paragraph....
Well, with their current sales, Sony will have to do just that. Because obviously the public is not dying to buy it at the current price and I doubt it will sell like hotcakes even when good games come out, at that price (with the memory card and a game).
I don't understand why people use the 3DS price drop as a complaint regarding why it is selling well. It is a business and if a product is not priced correctly, AND you have the means to adjust it to the "sweet spot", then do it. Why not?
If it ends up working for Sony, then they should do it, too. I think $200 with a memory card should be a sweet spot for them. I want a Vita, but none of the current games seem like a must-buy. Uncharted seems gimmicky and to play itself. And the other games are mostly ports. But I'm sure it won't always be like that :-)
"I think $200 with a memory card should be a sweet spot for them."
From what I've seen of the Vita, I think a drop to $200 with a bundled memory card isn't possible. The PSX, PS2, PSP and PS3 were all sold for a loss during the first years and Sony itself doesn't indicate, they handle the pricing strategy different with the Vita. A drop to $200 would mean an even bigger loss per console plus the lost sales on memory cards, which adds up, depending on the memory card size, to $60 per console minimum (I suspect here, that Sony gets 50% of the memory card price as profit, pure speculation, but seems reasonable). Even if they only sell 5 million consoles during their first 12 months (which would be a desaster, the 3DS is on it's way to sell well above 16 million in 13 months), the additional losses would be $300 million.
Imagine the best scenario, the Vita gets a sales boost from the price drop, like the 3DS, and sells 15 million during this 12 months, the additional losses would be $900 million. In long term, such a strategy might pay of, due to better software sales, but Sony is not a big first party supplier any more, so they would have to get these $300-$900 million purely due to licence fees, which means an awful lot of games to sell. Sony simply isn't in a position any more to take such losses, their debts almost equal their assets and their credit rating was just lowered.
The reason, why Nintendo could drop the price so dramatically was because they had Super Mario Land 3D and Super Mario Kart 7 almost ready for lauch, games, they know would sell in the millions on a worldwide basis. It made sense for Nintendo to drop the price to sell more units of these 2 games, even if it meant selling the 3DS at a loss.
Mike, thanks for using sold-through numbers not sold-in numbers; they mean more. But why are you calling the 3DS a console? The Wii, Xbox 360, and the PS3 are game consoles. The Nintendo 3DS is a handheld system.
I assume he's calling it that because he's trying to make clear that it is selling faster than any of those devices, eg faster than DS, gameboy, PSP, PS3, Wii, PS2 etc
glad to hear nintendo is doing well i love my 3DS and i know there is so much potential for it to sell way more units if curtain games became available. for example they should put minecraft on the 3DS ive read so many forums were people said they would buy the 3DS on the spot if minecraft was on it, and you know the 3DS it can handle minecraft easily. i also think some simple MMORPGs like maplestory would be great not the one for DS that was a offline single player i mean the full online multiplayer version.
i also want to see an indie games section in the eshop because i would like to see some new a better games in there so far we get this not so great selections.
the eshop should also release old NES and NES classics that we big back in the days like SMB 2 and 3, super mario world, or just super mario allstars would make it easier. super mario RPG maybe as a release as they release the new paper mario 3D, same for the n64 paper mario
what im saying is there is so much nintendo can do that would make the 3DS a must have
I am glad to see this console really take off because its a great console, most fun I have had out of a portable in a while. I would like to see some great games in the next couple of years I just hope they don't bring out a 3DS XL or 3DS i plus magnum or something.
oh god i hope not, i would be pissed to see a newer slightly changed version come out, i didnt spend all that money on this thing for it to come out with a new version so soon, one of the reasons i never got a ipod, cause they had a new one every month XD
I'm sure there is a way to spin this into negative news for Nintendo, c'mon Gamasutra commenters! I especially love the last paragraph....
Maybe Sony should drop the price on the Vita $80 and finally release some good games.
Then we could say; "Great job by Sony! That $80 price drop really helped out, along with releasing good games finally." :)
I don't understand why people use the 3DS price drop as a complaint regarding why it is selling well. It is a business and if a product is not priced correctly, AND you have the means to adjust it to the "sweet spot", then do it. Why not?
If it ends up working for Sony, then they should do it, too. I think $200 with a memory card should be a sweet spot for them. I want a Vita, but none of the current games seem like a must-buy. Uncharted seems gimmicky and to play itself. And the other games are mostly ports. But I'm sure it won't always be like that :-)
From what I've seen of the Vita, I think a drop to $200 with a bundled memory card isn't possible. The PSX, PS2, PSP and PS3 were all sold for a loss during the first years and Sony itself doesn't indicate, they handle the pricing strategy different with the Vita. A drop to $200 would mean an even bigger loss per console plus the lost sales on memory cards, which adds up, depending on the memory card size, to $60 per console minimum (I suspect here, that Sony gets 50% of the memory card price as profit, pure speculation, but seems reasonable). Even if they only sell 5 million consoles during their first 12 months (which would be a desaster, the 3DS is on it's way to sell well above 16 million in 13 months), the additional losses would be $300 million.
Imagine the best scenario, the Vita gets a sales boost from the price drop, like the 3DS, and sells 15 million during this 12 months, the additional losses would be $900 million. In long term, such a strategy might pay of, due to better software sales, but Sony is not a big first party supplier any more, so they would have to get these $300-$900 million purely due to licence fees, which means an awful lot of games to sell. Sony simply isn't in a position any more to take such losses, their debts almost equal their assets and their credit rating was just lowered.
The reason, why Nintendo could drop the price so dramatically was because they had Super Mario Land 3D and Super Mario Kart 7 almost ready for lauch, games, they know would sell in the millions on a worldwide basis. It made sense for Nintendo to drop the price to sell more units of these 2 games, even if it meant selling the 3DS at a loss.
Handheld game console: a specific lightweight and portable device for playing video games
i also want to see an indie games section in the eshop because i would like to see some new a better games in there so far we get this not so great selections.
the eshop should also release old NES and NES classics that we big back in the days like SMB 2 and 3, super mario world, or just super mario allstars would make it easier. super mario RPG maybe as a release as they release the new paper mario 3D, same for the n64 paper mario
what im saying is there is so much nintendo can do that would make the 3DS a must have