Shadow1980 said:
It is quite interesting. It seems to indicate that, at least for now, the Japanese market isn't treating it as a 3DS successor. The GBC quickly faded when the GBA was released, GBA sales cratered after the DS was released, and the DS tanked after the 3DS was released. But the 3DS is still hanging in there. It could be a similar situation with the PS2 & PS3 in the U.S. The PS2 was not immediately affected by the PS3's release like the PS1 was when the PS2 came out, and didn't see sales increase their rate of decline by a significant amount until the PS3 got a permanent price cut to $400. So, maybe the Switch needs a little something more before the 3DS starts to decline, perhaps a price cut and the announcement of big handheld titles like Pokemon and Monster Hunter. |
The most likely reason for 3DS hold and DS quick decline is the software in the last months around 3DS/Switch launch.
Pokemon Black/White released in Sept 2010 and was huge but from Oct 2010-March 2011 there was a few games that sold in the 300-600k range.
In that same time frame for 3DS had Pokemon Sun/Moon in Nov which has done over 3 million, it also had Mario Maker in Dec & Monster Hunter in March which have done over 1 million along with a few games that have sold 300-600k.
3DS lacks any truly noteworthy releases in the next few months so if sales continue to hold pretty well than your theory could be correct but i suspect we will see it start to fade in the coming months.
When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.
