Since one of our “video game” robots Zombietron, the guy who loves his 3DS, seems to still be asleep like the lazy ass he is, I will go ahead and give you all the good news!
Starting on August 12, Nintendo will be dropping the price of the 3DS from $250 to $170!
“For anyone who was on the fence about buying a Nintendo 3DS, this is a huge motivation to buy now,”
– Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime
This may come as a surprise to some of you, to others, it may have been expected – I’m in the latter group. From the initial announcement of the 3DS I thought it was a pretty cool and immersive concept that they wanted to do with it, but felt that a $250 price tag was quite steep for a handheld gaming device. Couple that with a lackluster game line up and it’s not surprising Nintendo has seen less than impressive sales numbers from the 3DS (yes, I know “Ocarina of Time” was released on the platform, but one game can’t carry a pricey handheld gaming device such as this).
Between the launch of the 3DS in February and the end of their fiscal year on March 31, Nintendo had expected to see sales exceed 4 million, but reported in April that actual sales were at 3.61 million units. In the first fiscal quarter of this year (April-June) Nintendo saw 710,000 more units moved worldwide – only 110,000 of which could be attributed to US sales.
Prior to and after its launch, Nintendo reps remained adiment that $250 was a “bargain” for the 3DS and that once consumers realized the value of all that the device could do they would not have a problem shelling out this kind of money for a handheld gaming device.
In my usually-not-so-humble opinion (and Zombietron may jump in here later today and disagree with me) I believe that $250 has always been too steep of a price for a handheld gaming device – regardless of all the bells and whistles that Nintendo may have added to it. There is no doubt that the 3DS is a fantastic gaming platform with a lot of perks and interactivity to go along with it, but consumers are used to paying a bit less than $250 to get their gaming on the go. There was also the issue of a lack of quality gaming options released with the 3DS that seemed to keep many potential customers away. It’s hard to justify spending that kind of money on a gaming device if Nintendo hasn’t released enough titles to make it worth the cost.
This seems to be just the first step in Nintendo trying to boost sales of the 3DS. With the dropping of the price to a more reasonable $169.99 I think it is now more in the price-range of what handheld gaming consumers are willing to spend. Along with this price drop, gamers will also be happy to see that Nintendo has some big titles coming out for the 3DS over the course of the rest of the year including Star Fox 64 3D, Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7 and Kid Icarus.
With a better price-point for the 3DS, more big titles headed its way, and accounting for the fact that the holiday season is fast approaching I wouldn’t be surprised to see Nintendo see a big jump in 3DS sales like they are hoping. Prior to this price-drop I wasn’t even considering picking one up, but now I might be able to justify $170 to get my mobile gaming on.
Source: MSNBC