Poor Nintendo can’t seem to catch a break!
First, Amazon temporarily ceased their Cosmo Black Nintendo 3DS sales because of a minor inventory flaw that created scratches on the case. That in itself wouldn’t be such a big deal if it wasn’t for the amateur press using this as an excuse to bash the 3DS for its 3D support. The units are back on sale, by the way.
Now Nintendo made their 3DS offering more competive by reducing its price from about $249 US to $169 US. The response? Remarks that Nintendo is getting desperate!
According to Nintendo, the 3DS has sold 4.32 million units since its launch earlier this year along with 13.96 million software units. The aging DS (2D Nintendo) has sold 1.44 million units during the quarter, and is expected to sell 9 million units this fiscal year. The 3DS is up against the DS’ lifetime total of 147.86 million units worldwide (released in November, 2004).
Just the other day, we had a meeting with a local mobile game developer, and the concensus on the cause of Nintendo’s problems had nothing to do with their price, their 3D technology, or even the growing number of mobile device competitors. The 3DS’ biggest problem to this day is its limited content support. The games that exist suck just as much in 2D as they do in 3D, though it’s 3D that is getting the rap (and the crap!).
Just an educated guess, but MTBS expects that when the good content drops down from the Nintendo heavens, we are going to start seeing bundle deals between the device and the software bringing things back to the $250 mark.