| Michael-5 said: Just want to say that, while 3DS is down YoY atm, it won't be for long. 3DS sold well for the first 3 months of 2012 because of an $80 price cut in 2011. During Q3/Q4 3DS didn't sell that well, that's why 2012 sales aren't a big jump from 2011 sales. For 2013, 3DS is selling better per week then it did in 2012, and the gap will likely grow with Animal Crossing releasing in North America, and especially Pokemon's release. Plus we don't know what other games will release this fall for 3DS. --- For Wii U, yes it's having a slow start, but have faith. PS4 and Infinity are rumored to cost $500 or so at launch, where Wii U is $300/$350. Wii U also has had very little software, where Wii released with a main Zelda entry and Wii Sports. Once Mario Kart 8 and Wii Fit U come out, Wii U sales should boom. 8th gen is going to start slow, for all consoles, mostly because the 7th gen lasted so long, and because the graphical jump to PS4/Infinity isn't that large. There are so many PS3/360 games out there, people aren't ready to migrate yet. Remember how long it took PS2 fans to migrate to the PS3? Well this gen it's going to take even longer, so don't expect Wii U sales to really go nuts until 2014 or 2015. |
I'm starting to think Nintendo games don't really cause the "boost" that people think they do. After the initial "surge" in hardware (which is usually brought on by Mario games), Nintendo fans generally just come on board at their own rate per month, and isn't so much of a "I'm waiting for Luigi's Mansion and Luigi's Mansion only until I buy a 3DS" type situation.
Because 3DS has bigger games being released this year so far, in Luigi's Mansion 2, Fire Emblem 2, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, and LEGO City vs. Kid Icarus Uprising and Spirit Camera last year.
Yet sales of hardware are flat or even down. And that's with two hardware models (regular and XL this year) versus only one last year. I think part of it is Nintendo fans tend to not just like one franchise but many Nintendo franchises. So a fan of Pokemon isn't just going to sit there and wait for Pokemon 3DS to come out until they buy a 3DS. Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 may hold them over for example.
I kind of saw this pattern with the GameCube too, where Nintendo fans were perplexed as to why Metroid Prime + Zelda: The Wind Waker + Mario Kart: DD didn't cause bigger boosts for the GCN.
What caused the Wii and DS to break out were really the infusion of non-Nintendo fans and lapsed Nintendo fans brought in by Wii Sports, Brain Training, Wii Fit, etc. and also the well used nostalgia of many people not having played a new 2D Mario game in 15-20 years in many cases. However now they've kind spent the casual gaming fad and overused the 2D Marios a bit too much so that it's not as special.
