Mummelmann said:
1: How will it look around this time next year, not to mention two years? 2: Is it a good thing that handhelds are so reliant on the Japanese market when we know they're shifting more towards mobile than anyone else? Not to mention countless revisions. In global sales, the 3DS is not showing impressive numbers, not if you compare it to the PS4, Wii or least of all; the DS. Which in itself should be raising eyebrows since the 3DS is practically without competition whereas the DS beat the successful PSP that has sold in excess of 80 million and even did great in Japan. There is simply no denying that dedicated handhelds are in serious trouble in the very near future (I believe I said that the market would collapse within 3-5 years, back in 2012) and that is a legitimate issue to discuss. The sales are not in any way low, but relatively speaking; they are actually "low". |
People keep talking about the 3DS sales when in reality all dedicated gaming devices in Japan are sinking. Home consoles are doing terrible - even worse than handhelds - most people there simply don´t care about them anymore. The matter of low 3DS sales is not just a simple matter of the product itself, but of the japanese videogame market as a whole.
Considering the situation, I´d say that home consoles will probably die first in Japan. 3DS is still doing very well compared to every other device available in that market.
As for the global market, I´d not try to make predictions. This generation is selling worse than the last in every front (home consoles and handhelds combined) - http://www.vgchartz.com/article/252144/7th-gen-vs-8th-gen-aligned-sales-comparison-october-2014-update/ - obviously, Nintendo is the big loser with the flock of casuals to phones/tablets , but Sony´s Vita is also in deep deep trouble worldwide and the company currently is in a troubling financial situation despite the huge PS4 success.
