Hiku said:
And I disagree with this comparison. Microsoft's primary reason for making Kinect optional early on was because it drove up the cost of the system to $100 more than it's close competitor (and $100 more than the standard new console price), that was not only more powerful than XBO, but pre order numbers were running circles around Xbox One, partially due to the price difference (same reason many PS2 owners jumped ship to X360 last generation), and of course also the DRM fiasco.
Furthermore, Xbox One wasn't named Kinectbox One. So they could remove it without affecting the branding of the system. If you remove the 3D feature from 3DS, I don't imagine they would keep the name. Although I don't think this would be a huge problem. Just a sidenote.
3DS never really had a serious competitor, so Nintendo were less pressured to make drastic changes like Microsoft. They were able to lower the price of the system early on without making the feature optional. Microsoft were not as fortunate.
I don't know the percentage of 3D use, but based on polls it appears quite common that people keep it off.
And in terms of sales, New 2DS appears to be selling a lot better than New 3DS weekly in Japan.
Last week 2DSLL sold 47,230 in Japan. While 3DSLL sold 15,158 units.
http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=234101&page=1
That's more than a 3:1 ratio. And the week before that it was a 2:1 ratio.
But there are apparently enough people that enjoy the 3D feature that Nintendo can comfortably keep it around. Kinect may or may not have been less popular. We'll never know for sure thanks to Microsoft keeping their numbers a secret. But they did discontinue making them, and that would suggest it wasn't popular enough compared to what it cost them to keep making them and supporting it with games. Because making games that support Kinect features is a more complicated and costly endeavor than just having a simple 3D feature for 3DS games.
| The 2DS sells to both kids and those who aren't interested in 3D |
And to people who don't mind a much more clumsy unfoldable version, when it comes to the standard 2DS model.
That monstrosity is not really an alternative for those who enjoy the form factor of 3DS, but don't care for the 3D feature.
They did however recently make a New 2DS, and that one works fine as an alternative. Which may explain why it appears to be selling a lot better than the 3DS. If it was available back when I bought my 3DS XL, I would have chosen New 2DS instead and saved $50.
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