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Soundwave on 09 February 2015
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zorg1000 said:
Soundwave said:

I don't think so. I think their main problem is that their two bread and butter audiences outside of their core fanbase -- kids and casuals are being taken away from Nintendo in droves by Apple/Android devices. 

A traditional game handheld will probably never sell 80+ million any more, who knows 3DS might very well be the last one that can even breach the 70 million barrier. 

Doesn't matter how cheap the device is, when people already have another device in their pocket that basically scratches their portable gaming itch already (on top of doing 100 other things), the need for a dedicated portable kinda flies out the window. That and the whole $1/free games vs. $40 games kinda seals the deal. 

The GBA really would've sold like 100+ million too had it not been cut short, but its yearly shipments prior to the DS releasing were more on pace for a system that finishes in the 100 million range. The amount of systems they were selling yearly in the GBA + GCN era is likely something they simply can't replicate in the modern market (forget Wii/DS obviously). 

U honestly don't believe that 3DS/Wii U could have sold modestly better in the same time frame if they launched at $100 cheaper each and had more/better advertising?

By the end of this fiscal year, 3DS will be at roughly 52 million shipped with Wii U roughly around 10 million. In the same time frame, GBA was around 65 million and GC around 15 million. So it's 62 million vs 80 million, maybe they wouldn't have matched GBA/GC but if 3DS/Wii U launched at lower price points with increased advertising efforts than it may be more like 70 million at this point.


Well the 3DS did get a pretty massive price cut early on. 

With the Wii U, I think people simply don't want one. It's not all that complicated. Nintendo's concept of a family friendly console primarily driven by their sugary sweet mascots without the third party support just doesn't resonate even with kids anymore. And they lost the entire casual/fad Wii crowd to Apple so that became a dead end for them. Just like people wouldn't buy a GameCube even at $99.99. 

Nintendo has an audience problem moreso than a price problem in other words.