3DS Is Really Fading Out Fast In The US

[DanneSandin]

Shadow1980 said:

I already talked about the 3DS vs. the PSP here. Here's the gist of it, with no graphs:

1. The 3DS was outpacing the PSP in the U.S. and Japan until the end of last year, more so in Japan. In the U.S., the 3DS is still over 1.7 million units ahead of where the PSP was at this point in time. The 3DS also has always garnered a larger portion of its annual sales in Q4 than the PSP did.

2. The PSP had a big boost from the release of the PSP-2000 in September 2007. The 3DS didn't have a big boost to baseline sales from the 2DS, which wasn't even released in Japan (though Pokemon X/Y provided a big boost for October last year).

3. The 2DS likely had no effect on sales because it lacked what every other remodel of handhelds that did boost sales have: actual improvements over the previous model. It seems like most customers would rather pony up the extra $70 for an XL. The New 3DS does have actual improvements over previous models, and that's why I think it could potentially give a boost to sales just as it has in Japan.

4. The PSP had a huge drop YoY in 2009, declining about 35% in the U.S. and 40% in Japan. If the N3DS only manages to keep 3DS sales from declining YoY, it will go back to outpacing the PSP. If it gets even a modest increase in YoY sales, say, back to or close to 2013 levels, that means it will outpace the PSP just that much more.

The potential for at least matching if not passing the PSP in America is still there. It just depends on what effects the N3DS has on sales. Of course, in Japan the 3DS has already passed the GBA, will likely pass the PSP next year, and is still on track to become the third best-selling piece of game hardware ever in the country (or possibly second, if you count the GBC separately)

Since noone else has, I will comment this.

great post! Very insightful, but I dont think N3DS will be able to boost the WW figures all that much. 3DS will be down YoY from now on... but still e great post!