"3DS at 8 millions in the US, better than the DS in the same timeframe"

[Otakumegane]

Yakuzaice said:

TheLastStarFighter said:

I'm sorry, I'll try to explain it better for you.  Nintendo handhelds pick up in sales in the US about a year later than in Japan, and their life ends about a year later.  This is for all of their handhelds.  I also didn't say that people wait for Pokemon to buy a system.  What I'm saying is, Pokemon comes out a year later than in Japan, so it keeps the life of the old handheld going longer in the US.  It's not that lack of Pokemon is hurting 3DS, it's that its late release is helping DS.  It doesn't matter if its 3 months or a year, Pokemon launched at Christmas 2012 in the US, when the bulk of systems are purchased.  There was no major title for 3DS.  Combined with great deals on DS, and the fact that the US market adopted DS about a year after Japan did (meaning most owners have owned it for a shorter time) means the market lags.  DS has more appeal than it does in Japan at this stage, and it has been getting way more sales.  It was the same in the transition from Gameboy Advance to DS.  If history repeats itself, 3DS should have an amazing year this year and DS should fade away.

This just doesn't hold up though.  In the first week of July 2012 (this is post Japanese pokemon launch and pre US launch), the 3DS was 47.5x the DS in Japan.  In comparison in the US it was only 1.2x the DS.  Even if you go back to July 2011 it was still 3.7x in Japan, and that's pre price cut.  If you look at post price cut, the ratio doesn't match the US ones a year later.  Even if we look back two years it was 2.16x the DS in Japan first week of April 2011, compared to 1.88x in the US last week.

Also you can't say the US lags a year because of Pokemon, and then say it doesn't matter if its 3 months or a year.  Now I'm not saying that the US doesn't lag Japan in sales trends, but my point is it has little to nothing to do with Pokemon, and it's not strictly a year.

Nintendo purposely killed DS in Japan due to 3DS sales.

They haven't done so yet elsewhere.