Nintendo president: 3DS sales weaker than expected

By on Apr 27, 2011 at 5:59 AM
Gaming April 27, 2011

Speaking during an investor briefing on Tuesday, Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata said that sales of his firms new 3DS portable gaming system failed to meet expectations. “Sales of the 3DS have been weaker than expected since the second week of launch in the US and Europe,” Iwata said while discussing the device’s launches in Europe, the United States, and in Japan. Nintendo had expected to sell 4 million units last quarter, but sales fell short at 3.61 million units. Iwata said that he hopes sales will increase as much as 40% during the next year, AFP reported. We reviewed the 3DS earlier this month and argue that the gaming system doesn’t offer enough features to justify its $250 price point.

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  • Fashosbest

    I’m not surprised at all, who wants to pay $250 when they can easily just buy an iPod Touch that’s more portable with cheaper games or pretty much add a few bucks and buy a console.

  • Anonymous

    Considering the price and the warning about young kids using the 3d effects (and knowing that my kids would abuse the holy hell out of it), I know that when my kids asked for one they got a big fat “No” in return as in: no now, no later, and don’t even think of asking Santa for it.

    • Anonymous

      geez scrooge.

  • http://twitter.com/homescrub homescrub

    Just what is this big hand held? My kids have iPod touches. Enough said.

    • Senor Chang

      The only thing your personal experience tells me is you have older kids who care not about Zelda, Mario or Pokemon.

      What handhelds did you or your kids previously own prior to owning iPods?

  • Gregory Opera

    Just yesterday we were in Melbourne for an unrelated event, and we thought we’d check out EB Games’ famous “Nintendo Experience” store… Specifically, the fancy-new Nintendo 3DS.

    Now here’s the thing, I wasn’t expecting much, but neither my brother-in-law (18) nor myself (29) could see the “3D”, despite having the 3D dial all the way up! My brother-in-law said it looked like a hologram to him, whilst to myself it appeared like nothing more than a high-resolution image with a metallic effect…

    My son (7) however, swear he can see the 3D, but no matter how much he begs, he’s not getting one – not when Nintendo themselves warn the 3D can cause “damage” the the eyes of kids!

    Yeah, we’ll wait for the Sony “NGP”…

  • Spotmark

    Of course, because 3D is a gimmick, that comes and goes every ten to twenty years. It’s been hot for the last couple of years, and we’re getting ready to see it fade away, again. Enjoy those 3D TVs, suckers.

  • http://www.bignerdblog.com BigNerd

    Nintendo usually hits (GB/DS/Wii)… so now they finally miss.

    Still think they should have went for a slimmer, more portable DSi that was relatively inexpensive compared to the iPod Touch.

    They’re probably rethinking that 3D slider now on the Wii 2 (I kid).

    They should really work on pumping more content into a Nintendo App Store (please don’t sue me Apple).

    • Senor Chang

      This is probably true… bigger touch screens, slimmer designs over 3D gimmicks.

      • http://www.bignerdblog.com BigNerd

        Bigger and higher res main screen.

        Multi-touch control screen (yes… resistive can do multi-touch). Or you can go capacitive but then those 3-packs of styli will cost more than $1.

  • http://twitter.com/zitothebrave Scott C

    They should drop the pricing point on it. It’s as expensive as the Wii was when the Wii Launched 5 years ago.

    On that note, there is no replacing a true handheld system with a phone as of now. On the phone you can play Angry Birds for a few days, then just get totally bored. To this day I’ll still pick up Mario Kart DS and play it for an hour or so. I haven’t turned Angry Birds on in a month.

    For people who’re true casual gamers who have a short attention span then yes mobile gaming may be better. But for someone who really wants to play games on the go, the handheld experience is the way to go.

    I have a hunch the 3DS will be a slow adopter, kind of like the 360 was.

  • Senor Chang

    How I know no one here knows jack about gaming:
    the PSP launced in North America in 2005 for the price of………

    wait for it.

    WAIT.

    $249.99.

    Ok, thanks for playing… all comments about price now rendered irrelevant.

    • Anonymous

      And in the 6 years since its release, I’ve seen 3 people carrying around a PSP. 2 of them were bought used. Those things did not/do not sell well at all.

      All comments about price now rendered relevent again.

      • Marco

        “I’ve only seen three so they must not be selling, right?!” Tell me, what other portable console managed to hang in the marketplace with Nintendo for an entirety of a generation, let alone beat them on sales at some points in the meantime? The PSP is anything but a failure and implying otherwise just continues to demonstrate your ignorance.

  • http://twitter.com/hawaiiinsomniac hawaiiinsomniac

    Duh, its the recession, stupid! Coming out with your MOST EXPENSIVE HANDHELD was not a bright idea.

  • Anonymous

    Because the 3D is crap. Looks horrible and hurt my eyes in first 5 minutes. The build quailty is something from 10 years ago. It’s over bulky and cheap plastics… and will cost you $275 (including tax). So there is NO benefit to get one over teh existing DS except the thumbstick.

  • $onySucks

    sony take notice. this is your future too for the NGP

  • Anonymous

    My kids would rather have rooted Nook Colors, Ipod Touches, or put the money towards a 10″ tablet.

  • http://www.norwichretrogaming.co.uk/ Norwich Retro Gaming

    It has been said that they have been weak with the launch titles that came out with the 3DS, but let’s be honest, do we really think once OoT has been released and Mario 3DS sales will not be flagging as much as they are now!

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