| Nem said:
You also forget that the economic landscape of today isnt the same as it was 6 years ago. The facts still show the market is there. The facts dont show people will completely forget their 3DS' and stick to phones. Why? Because the quality of the games and the playability is significantly inferior. The barrier of adoption is simply higher this time around, but the market is still there. |
The handheld market was much larger even in the height of the recession than it is today.
Handheld market in US in March
2007: 832k
2008: 995k
2009: 731k
2010: 820.7k
2011: 1008.7k
2012: 581k
2013: 357k
The facts show the market has decreased significantly. In the first 3 months of 2007, the DS outsold the 3DS, DS, Vita, and PSP combined in the first 3 months of 2012. By 29%! The GBA and PSP combined also sold more than the entire market this year. I wasn't even making an argument about smartphones, but regardless the facts show that smartphone sales are booming while dedicated handhelds are crumbling.
The problem with the games argument is that the 3DS has an even lower attach rate than the DS. After 8 quarters the 3DS has 85 million software shipped with an attach rate of 2.85. After 8 quarters the DS had shipped 104 million software with an attach rate of 3.86. In the ninth quarter the DS will ship 50.64 million units of software and the attach rate will rise to 4.33. By the 11th quarter, it is likely that DS software shipments will double those of the 3DS.
