| Joelcool7 said:
Nintendo sold 3.6 million 3DS units in its launch month and fiscal year. That is 400,000 units short of the 4-million units. You make it sound as if Nintendo should have sold more then 4-million units in one month. Sure sales right now aren't the best but Nintendo did nearly reach its projections. Also as I said Nintendo was counting on early adopters and their loyal fanbase for sales. They didn't market the thing worth crap. If they could get those kinds of numbers without any marketing at all then when they turn up the heat and start marketing theirs no telling what they are capable of. 3DS is close to DS sales on a weekly basis and that is not half bad considering the device has no product awareness. I think when Sony launches NGP Nintendo will launch that 500-million dollar marketing campaign and kick some serious butt. Also according to Reggie Nintendo doesn't want demand to out number supply. So Nintendo is stock piling I bet come this winter Nintendo will be ready to unleash hell on Sony! |
You're talking about 'early adopters' and 'loyal fanbase', but then you are only looking at the shipped numbers. Those people had nothing to do with the shipped numbers (well except Japan where they missed their forecast) because that was the launch shipment. It had to do with both Nintendo and retailers being overly optimistic.
By Nintendo's own numbers, they show a sell-through of only 1.64 million (not including a handful of countries like Canada I believe), and unless the US April numbers are great, they aren't getting through that first shipment anytime soon. Both Japan and Europe showed a precarious drop after launch. In Europe it was below the 2010 DS numbers by week two, and was down to the 2011 DS numbers by week 3. 3DS plus DS in week 3 being roughly equal to the 2010 DS numbers. Just curious, what are you expecting the April-June shipment to be, and what do you think Nintendo expected 6 months ago?
As for Reggie's comment, do you really believe that? That they are stockpiling for the winter in March? I'm sure retailers would be thrilled with the idea of having stock rotting on their shelves for half a year. Reggie's comment was just spin, plain and simple. Of course they don't want demand to outstrip supply, but they were definitely expecting better sell-through. If you don't believe me, here are some quotes from their investor briefing.
In reference to Japan
"The initial sales were healthy; however, the sales speed slowed down from the third week after its launch which is not what we had expected for the start-up transition."
The US
"Nintendo 3DS started very well but, on the other hand, did not perform as expected after the second week."
And Europe.
"Nintendo 3DS was launched in late March. The sales were high in the initial week, but sales fell below our expectations after the second week. Nintendo 3DS has not been selling as expected since the second week, and this is not just in the Japanese market but also in the United States and Europe, where no direct impact from the great earthquake has occurred."
