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Soundwave on 23 August 2015
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twintail said:
Wyrdness said:

The GBA has no competition to sell that much and was cut short when competition arrived, 3DS in your words being challenged by mobile and Vita yet still selling the same range and possibly more indicates no decline as those numbers are the same to when no competition was around which highlights my earlier point in mobiles not really replacing portables.

Want numbers for PSP they're on this very site, look at the software numbers, after 2009 it virtually became non existent, FFVII was running on PSPs before it was even on PSN.


DS launched before PSP so the DS would have first affected GBA . The fiscal year of the DS launch, GBA sales declined the year before by about 2 million units. A year later, 7 million and onwards it fell. Having the DS directly affected the GBA sales potential.

If 3DS got a successor as quickly as GBA did, it would probably not even hit 60 million LTD. 70 is still < 80.  This is important in terms of understanding the context behind the GBA's sales of 80 million and how they dont represent the market it could have had. Solid numbers is not a genuine way of representing what the GBA (or any console) meant for its generation. The fact that you are so willing to dictate that the PSP only managed to hit 80 million because of piracy is indicative that you are willing to consider context, but for the GBA  you seem unwilling.

Unfortunantely I am not willing to use this site for its sales numbers because they cant really be validated in terms of authenticity. Additionally, this site doesnt track digital sales and unless you can comment on that you have no real basis on how well software sold from 2009 onwards.

If the 3DS cant hit 80 million then there is a decline (not counting how Nintendo cut off their GBA market potential). The entire market has, nonetheless, seen a decline with DS+PSP being miles better than PSV+3DS. Sony and Nintendo were able to grow the handheld market together yet neither have been able to cultivate that this gen (Nintendo of course better so but there are reaons for that). Partly because of decisions they made and partly because the market has changed.

Nintendo will still see pretty decent enough sales as long as they have their handheld IPs, but once those become available on console, what purpose does one have for a dedicated handheld device, in a console dominated market?

 


I think it's the other way around more likely. More people will choose the handheld than the console version. Franchises like 3D Zelda, Splatoon, Mario Maker, and the higher fidelity Nintendo franchises will no longer be kept away from the handheld. 

The main thing the console variant will have is that it'll probably offer better graphics to the same games.