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Soundwave on 01 November 2014
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padib said:
Soundwave said:

The worrying thing about the 3DS is the yearly shipments last year and this year ... they are the lowest Nintendo has ever had for a handheld since the introduction of the GBC and Pokemon around 1997/98.

Last year was about 12 million even with Pokemon X/Y, 2DS, Animal Crossing, Luigi's Mansion, Monster Hunter 4 for Japan, etc.

The smartphone/tablet effect is real, it's like a cancer that's just continuing to spread and choke the life our of the handheld business.

The other issue is when mommy/daddy buy that shiny new iPhone 6 ... guess who gets the iPhone 5 ... usually it gets passed down to the kids. So they are getting introduced to these devices very early. Or tablets, mom/dad wants that new iPad mini, so they give the kids their older iPad. That's a big problem too.

Mario and Pikachu still have sway, but against this foe, they're simply not enough. 

That's where I don't agree. Games like Angry birds and Candy Crush have always existed on PC. Sure smartphones make them more accessible but the craze is going to die like it did for PCs initially. Now a PC is taken for granted, like a tablet will be next gen.

So the 3DS would have taken a dent sure but imho it's not a cancer or some undefeatable foe like you're making it out to be. That's a fantasy imho.


I don't think the smartphone is going anywhere, neither is gaming on smartphones. The PC was always a really difficult platform for gaming. I grew up with a PC in the 90s, and installing a game and sometimes getting it to run properly could be a nightmare, I think PC gaming never took off among the casual masses for that reason. 

But beyond that, the PC is kinda firmly stuck in the bedroom/den/work room ... the smartphone can go anywhere and is far more convienant in that sense. 

Angry Birds will fizzle out sure ... but then it will be replaced by some other new smartphone craze whether it's Candy Crush or whatever. That's part of the appeal of iOS/Android is there's constantly new games to try so that makes their ecosystem feel so vibrant and alive ... even if the game sucks ... so what, it's not like you paid $40 for it. 

It is like a cancer to handheld gaming IMO, every year we've seen the number of portables decline. This year will be less than last year. Next year will probably be even worse.