Nintendo Says 3DS to Be Biggest Handheld Product Since 2004

By Pavel Alpeyev and Adam Satariano

April 13 (Bloomberg) -- Nintendo Co.’s forthcoming 3-D player is the company’s biggest product introduction from the handheld business since it began offering the DS machine in 2004, according to the game maker’s U.S. head.

“We have ideas of what we want to bring to the consumer that we can’t do with the current” DS model, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said in an interview yesterday. “The Nintendo 3DS for us is our next handheld platform.”

The Kyoto-based game maker, projecting its first annual drop in DS machine sales, joins Sony Corp. in embracing the 3-D technology that helped “Avatar” break box-office records. The 3DS, going on sale this fiscal year, will compete against Sony’s PlayStation Portable and Apple Inc.’s iPad in the market for portable game players.

Nintendo, maker of the best selling Wii console, last month said the new handheld device will allow users to see 3-D images without the need for special glasses. Fils-Aime declined to give further details about the product, saying the company’s announcements at the E3 show in Los Angeles in June will focus on the player.

Fils-Aime likened the 3DS’s debut to when Nintendo transitioned from the Game Boy to the DS. Since the introduction in November 2004, DS player sales have exceeded 125 million, according to Nintendo’s Web site. Game Boy, the company’s first handheld platform, sold more than 200 million units since the first model went on sale in 1989.

Software Sales Slump

The company in January projected the number of DS players sold would drop 3.8 percent to 30 million and software sales slump 24 percent in the 12 months ended March 31. The decline in the handheld business, combined with a 23 percent drop in Wii sales, would reduce the company’s net income 18 percent to 230 billion yen ($2.5 billion), Nintendo said at the time.

The touch-screen iPad, which can be used to play games, surf the Internet, watch movies and read books, sold 450,000 units in less than a week after its release in the U.S. on April 3, Apple said earlier this month. More than 7 million iPads may be sold globally in the first year, according to El Segundo, California-based researcher iSuppli Corp.

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, expects combined sales of the iPhone and iPod Touch to reach 100 million units by summer, Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs said this month. Both devices allow users to download games, media and software programs.

Nintendo fell 1.1 percent to close at 31,300 yen on the Osaka Securities Exchange, narrowing its gain this year to 42 percent. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average slid 0.8 percent.

3-D PlayStation

Sony, which has said it will update software to allow PlayStation 3 machines to run games in 3-D, plans to start selling game titles as well as Bravia televisions capable of showing the format in June. PS3 users will have to wear special glasses to play 3-D games, the company said.

“Fundamentally, this business is about software, not hardware. Software is what drives engagement by the consumer,” Fils-Aime said. “For us technology is not the end, it’s the means to an end, which is around a great consumer experience.”

--With assistance from Cris Valerio and Cliff Edwards in San Francisco. Editors: Young-Sam Cho, Jonathan Annells

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-13/nintendo-says-3ds-to-be-biggest-handheld-product-since-2004.html

So if they are releasing the 3DS due to a drop in sales for the DS, then won't they be releasing the Wii 2 next year if theres a slump in sales for the Wii?

I doubt they would release their next console the same year as the 3DS. Especially since Vitality Sensor has not even been released yet and motion plus games are just getting going.

Remember DS came out in 2004, two years before the Wii. So I think Nintendo will follow a same pattern and release the next console 2 years after the 3DS, so probably 2012 in Japan, and 2013 in the West.

They also released the Gamecube 5 years ago, so Wii2 in 2011 confirmed? I suspect its in relation to whether the system can do what they want it to do and how the sales of the system perform. If both trigger the alarm then the new console is incoming within 12-24 months. I don't think anyone can say that because they release handheld and home consoles X number of years apart that the next home console has to be after 2012 or 2013.

awesome news, can't wait for the 3DS

"They also released the Gamecube 5 years ago"

Which was slumping the whole time. Obviously that is not the case with the Wii.

And with the DS, it's not so much as a slump as that the DS has peaked. Not in the way gaming press throws the term around hoping that means a system they don't like goes away. Peaking in the sense that the systems is running it's actual course, and a new system is ready.

So the Wii has a slump, and a hit game solves it, like with NSMBWii. The next system will be when the Wii is running its course.

Hmm... This means that as long as the potential of the Wii isn't tapped, the system can last longer. Developers holding out for the Wii are actually making it stay around.

Hey! I wasn't saying that they released consoles like clockwork! I was suggesting there were other factors involved....

Sorry. I had trouble making out the rest of your comment. I just couldn't understand the wording.

But I still maintain the Wii is less likely since there are a lot of games that will keep the system a hit before the need for a new system. As stated, when they have some hit game ideas that truly cannot be done on the Wii, then that will be what the next system is made for.

Nintendo will shine at E3 with 3DS!

Yeah, I think Wii still has plenty of gas left in the tank. Like Reggie said, Wii still has a lot of untapped potential. NSMB Wii proves that with the right software a console can gain newfound momentum. I think Vitality Sensor and its premiere game will be the next big lift for the Wii.

With DS it's a different scenario. It's been on the market for a lot longer and both its hardware and software sales are starting to slide, particularly in Japan and Europe. I think its time is just about done in those markets. Though it's still going strong in the US, which is why I think the US will see the 3DS last out of the three.