Analyst: "Weak 3DS launch spells doom for Sony's NGP."

[Mr Khan]

RolStoppable said:

Acevil said:

What I don't understand, it isn't a weak launch? I mean by what standard is this weak? It might not be the strongest, but it is far from a weak launch.  I don't necessarily get the whole NGP will do better or worse, because how 3DS did either. Given Sony fans are Nintendo Fans are horrible these days, and Seece is right. 

It is weak based on Nintendo's expectations which is what really counts. Their shipment projection for the end of March was four million units worldwide. This assumes a sellthrough of at least 2.5m units, but more realistically around 3m. Add up the numbers we have so far and it's clear that the 3DS won't match the target set for it.

Regarding the NGP, handheld generations usually are one to two gens behind home consoles in terms of processing power. What we could learn from the 7th gen consoles' launches is that from a certain point onwards the graphics that appear on screens are perceived as only marginally better even though they are generated by cutting edge technology. The price points for the 360 and PS3 were high and people saw little that would justify a purchase. With the 3DS and NGP we are seeing a comparable situation. Does the better technology in those handhelds justify their higher price points over their predecessors? Most likely not. Both portables will struggle until they've come down in price and build a solid games library. Until then the DS and PSP will keep trucking along, just like the PS2 which still outsold the 360 and PS3 in 2007.

Wouldn't you think the tsunami would be factoring into that? It's playing havoc with all sorts of stuff...