November NPD 2018 Thread

[zorg1000]

Intrinsic said:

zorg1000 said:
When it comes to 3DS vs Switch it is extremely important to factor in that 3DS had a price cut in year one and a revision in year two. Switch is already outpacing 3DS by a decent margin in the West and that will only accelerate once Switch receives those. Same goes for Japan, 3DS has built up a healthy lead over Switch there but Switch will start to close the gap or at least prevent it from growing more once it gets those.

There is obviously a chance that something happens which causes Switch to end below 3DS but that's looking more and more unlikely as time goes on.

Ok. This price drop thing a lot keep saying about the 3DS. Fact of the matter is that it doesnt really mean anything with regards to the Switch.

The switch cost $299. And its a hybrid. A home console that you can take on the go. Giving you full blown home console experiences but having the added bonus of making it possible to take it with you when you leave your TV. This fact can't be stressed enough. This is what has made the switch successful. 

We aren't in a world where a stand alone handheld can pull these kinda numbers anymore. Nintendo figured that out with the 3DS/2DS. And as  stand alone home console the NS with its specs would have been DOA. So its success right now is tied t it being a hybrid.

The 3DS was not a hybrid and was released to a world that was mostly moving away from handheld gaming and replacing that with mobile gaming. The WiiU failed hard because it was just flat out under powered for a dedicated home console (without the bonus of a social mind blowing gimmick). Even a lot of hardcore nintendo fans skipped the platform.

The PS4 selling 20M consoles at $299 has shown what is possible for a dedicated home console at that price. Prior to 2017 and when it was more expensive it pulled in 18M+ and 17M+ years. All the while being more expensive than $299. By comparison and finishing this year at around 16M/17M the NS is actually not doing as good at the same price or less than what the PS4 had accomplished. 

I guess an argument can be made that the games aren't there yet... but thats debatable. The NS is sellin well at $299. At least a lt better than the XB1 ever managed to do. But its $299...... in this same generation there has been another console that cost $299 and more and all the while did better than what the NS has so far accomplished. 

The point isn't that 3DS costs less than Switch, its that it had both a price cut and revision in the first two full fiscal years and those were its peak years, neither of those things have happened for Switch yet which gives it greater potential for growth in fiscal years 3 & 4 compared to 3DS (years when it began to decline).

PS4 also needed a price cut and revision to have its peak year. 20m shipped in the fiscal year it received a price cut, Slim model & Pro model.