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Wyrdness on 23 August 2015
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twintail said:


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?

 


PSP was announced before the DS in fact it's long been considered the DS was a reaction to it, GBA was going to be cut short no matter what as a strong competitior was now on the way. DS launched a month before the PSP and that was in one region, NA, while the PSP launched in Japan, so it was both devices that impacted the GBA, the PSP for the first 7 or so months when released in NA was outselling the DS in the US.

The only way the 3DS would have got a successor as fast as the GBA is if the 3DS had performed badly, worse then the Wii U has, that's the context behind both the GBA and the 3DS, one performed with no competition and was cut short when competition turned up while the other has performed with competition. Believe me if Nintendo thought the GBA was going to be fine and sell loads more when the PSP was launched they would not have brought out the DS as quickly as they did if at all, PSP is what ended the GBA's run not the DS.

Sorry but you refusing to accept this very site that you're on as a source is not my problem and doesn't put any requirement on me, software sales declined from 2009 onwards the years when the homebrew scene really exploded mind you with only games like MH carrying the platform after that year.

Soundwave pretty much hit the point on the head as it's more likely the portable side benefits more from sharing the library, Smash bros had a bigger impact on 3DS then Wii U as did 3D Mario while MK had an equal effect on both portable and home console. What the console side of things is going to benefit from is more the third party titiles put on the portable as that would help deal with droughts.