Nintendo: Lack of First-Party Software Led to 3DS Price Cut
It's all about momentum, apparently.
A red one's coming soon. Fancy that.
Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime clearly went to the School of Stating the Bloody Obvious - the exec has commented on the tepid sales of the 3DS, saying that a stronger line-up of software is required.
The company recently announced a serious price cut in the face of consumer apathy with the device, raising concerns that competition with Apple's iPhone App market was putting pressure on the system's performance. Instead, Reggie told USA Today that it was a lack of first-party support and a weak selection of titles in its digital e-Shop that slowed sales down.
"Certainly, we needed to have stronger support at the launch from a first-party perspective and maybe have some of these key first-party titles earlier in the launch window in order to get the system selling stronger at the start and, ongoing, drive momentum," he said.
"We've seen very positive reaction to the digital offerings but it needed to be much sooner in the launch window. As a result that created a situation where the momentum wasn't sustained," Reggie added, noting that this was the reason for the price cut. "That's why we have now had to go back and reduce the price and reduce the price by a large amount in order to make sure we have stronger momentum beginning on Friday and powering through."
'Powering through,' eh? Is that the next-generation term for 'going forward'? Nintendo doesn't play by everyone else's rules after all. It plays with POWER. Such immense strength will allow Nintendo to sell an expected 16 million 3DS systems in its first year - a number that the company has not revised in light of the price cut.
The company recently announced a serious price cut in the face of consumer apathy with the device, raising concerns that competition with Apple's iPhone App market was putting pressure on the system's performance. Instead, Reggie told USA Today that it was a lack of first-party support and a weak selection of titles in its digital e-Shop that slowed sales down.
"Certainly, we needed to have stronger support at the launch from a first-party perspective and maybe have some of these key first-party titles earlier in the launch window in order to get the system selling stronger at the start and, ongoing, drive momentum," he said.
"We've seen very positive reaction to the digital offerings but it needed to be much sooner in the launch window. As a result that created a situation where the momentum wasn't sustained," Reggie added, noting that this was the reason for the price cut. "That's why we have now had to go back and reduce the price and reduce the price by a large amount in order to make sure we have stronger momentum beginning on Friday and powering through."
'Powering through,' eh? Is that the next-generation term for 'going forward'? Nintendo doesn't play by everyone else's rules after all. It plays with POWER. Such immense strength will allow Nintendo to sell an expected 16 million 3DS systems in its first year - a number that the company has not revised in light of the price cut.
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Comments
Ryan550 10 Aug 2011 20:52
1/2
They definitely botched their launch as the launch games and the services were both lacking and the fact that a lot of people did not realise the 3DS is a hell of a lot more powerful than the DSi due to having such a similar name definitely did not help.
I do love Nintendo.. however the 3DS does have its flaws such as poor battery life, price of the system (which is going to be a thing of the past with the price cut) and how the upper screen is smaller than the upper screen of the DSi.. which I presume was kept back for the next model of the 3DS along with better battery life (lite perhaps?) and to save costs on the current model.
Saying all that though the 3D on it is amazing when you play games such as Ocarina of Time on it which honestly should of been a launch title in the first place.
Resident Evil Revelations is showing just how more powerful the 3DS is to the original DS in terms of power.. Nintendo's mistake was that when showing the 3DS at the likes of E3 and other demonstrations, Nintendo should of demonstrated just how powerful the 3DS is in comparison to its predecessor. Instead the likes of Pilot wings, that awful Ghost Recon game and Street Fighter were what what the public got as a first impression of the system.. (along with a few others that did not impress)
While the likes of Street Fighter on the 3DS at launch had some fans that were pleased with how it looked on the system.. compared to what the system can do it was nothing.. I am well aware that developers never get the most power out of a system near the beginning after its release let alone launch but it was simply underwhelming.
I wish Nintendo good luck and hopefully the price cut leads to a lot of new customer's now that there is games worthy of buying available for the 3DS, I also hope Nintendo gets back on track as they are a company I admire for trying to be different with their consoles and handheld's.
I do love Nintendo.. however the 3DS does have its flaws such as poor battery life, price of the system (which is going to be a thing of the past with the price cut) and how the upper screen is smaller than the upper screen of the DSi.. which I presume was kept back for the next model of the 3DS along with better battery life (lite perhaps?) and to save costs on the current model.
Saying all that though the 3D on it is amazing when you play games such as Ocarina of Time on it which honestly should of been a launch title in the first place.
Resident Evil Revelations is showing just how more powerful the 3DS is to the original DS in terms of power.. Nintendo's mistake was that when showing the 3DS at the likes of E3 and other demonstrations, Nintendo should of demonstrated just how powerful the 3DS is in comparison to its predecessor. Instead the likes of Pilot wings, that awful Ghost Recon game and Street Fighter were what what the public got as a first impression of the system.. (along with a few others that did not impress)
While the likes of Street Fighter on the 3DS at launch had some fans that were pleased with how it looked on the system.. compared to what the system can do it was nothing.. I am well aware that developers never get the most power out of a system near the beginning after its release let alone launch but it was simply underwhelming.
I wish Nintendo good luck and hopefully the price cut leads to a lot of new customer's now that there is games worthy of buying available for the 3DS, I also hope Nintendo gets back on track as they are a company I admire for trying to be different with their consoles and handheld's.
DAVE 11 Aug 2011 02:49
2/2
Damn you big fat N. dumped my s**t after you f**ked me