Right. The 3DS has been confusing me for a couple of Weeks. It's the successor to the most successful videogame system ever and broke records on release.

I think we should have a topic discussing the sales performance of the system since release
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First, the good old Shipped/Sold argument. I think we're majorly undertracking the SW of the machine somewhere. Either that, or publishers are being very, very stupid.

Street Fighter 4 3D had shipped a Million units back in early April. A Month later, the game has sold 350,000 units WW and sold ~10,000 units the last Week. That's like... Over 600,000 units of the game on shelves and in warehouses.

Want to see something even worse?

Nintendo shipped over 1.7 Million units of Nintendogs and Cats at the end of March, according to the Quarterly report. According to VGC numbers, the game has sold 450k WW as of 14th May. So providing Nintendo haven't shipped a single unit since March, VGChartz estimates that there are ~1.2 Million units of the game on shelves and in warehouses with the game selling ~10,000 units the last Week.

That is a huge, huge number of games not being bought. It just doesn't make sense...
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Another thing I wanted to talk about...

Where are all the games? After the console was revealed we saw LOTS of games shown for the system, but we currently have 28 Games released for it, according to VGChartz, with only 20 of them being available outside of Japan.

The lack of compelling new releases is obviously going along with the huge (for a handheld) pricetag to harm 3DS HW sales, which are looking quite poor right now whhen compared to current sales of Nintendo's own DS and even Sony's PSP. It's much like the PS3 launch so many Years back now. Successor to the best selling system ever, but held back by a huge pricetag and a lack of great games. We saw what happened with the PS3, I'm wondering if the same thing could potentially happen to the 3DS. If the SW sales we have here are accurate, could it lose a bunch of exclusive support to the NGP (As the PS3 did to the 360), or maybe even Mobile devices like the iPhone?
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I have to go to work now... But when I get back I hope to see a big topic. I didn't finish off the OP but... Yaknow. Never have enough time

I probably missed some things out, or was stupid and said something that's wrong but... Meh.

Enjoy. Discuss. Etc.

I don't see it picking up much, 3D Mario and Zelda won;t move the system, Mario Kart might boost it up a bit, but the sytem has too manyflaw working against it in the long run, and its sales are showing that, the low battery life, the price and the overall direction fo the software isn't likely to see it turn into a big selling system.

A nintendogs here and a Mario Kart there, is not enough to save this sinking ship.

A Mario Kart there is enough!

You'll eat your words.

Is there nobody out there understanding that Ninty gave 3rd parties a chance?

After the release of Zelda, Mario and Kart alone, it will be more difficult for 3rd party obv.

Nintendogs is a game built for the younger audience (you can still enjoy it as grown-up 4sure) and i think the price tag is too high for that group, compared to DS family.

After price drop this game will pick up in sales, imo.

I can't see any ship sinking here. It just left the harbour, son!

like others have said, we just need to wait for more games. nothing significant has been released since launch

What is keeping me from buying the system is the battery life and the too console-ish games.

watching the trend of old handhelds, this is no surprise.

The 3DS will probably pick up when a redesign/(possible rebranding) is implmented, and the 2D Mario and Pokemon and other games that are good on portables releases, but I don't think this console will ever have the demographic penetration that the DS had, due to the Sacrifices Nintendo made on the altar of 3D.

I think you answered your own question with your post

"Where are all the games? After the console was revealed we saw LOTS of games shown for the system, but we currently have 28 Games released for it, according to VGChartz, with only 20 of them being available outside of Japan."

A lack of games is holding the system back quite substantially, I myself was aiming to get a 3DS as soon as possible (I wanted one at launch), to play all the amazing announced games, but after the price in the UK was originally announced to be £230, I didn't have the cash to buy one, so I waited, and a good thing too, I alredy have a huge back catalog of games, there aren't many compelling 3DS titles right now and the price for a 3DS is now £165! :O 

I'm not totally sure why the games shipped numbers are so high, but I'm guessing retailers also expected the 3DS to sell like hot cakes, and software sales to match, but now they have to sit on all that extra stock

Well, there are more than 150 announced games, many new will be presented at E3 too, so the lack of software should become just a bad memory through the year.

Indeed.

I remember here in NA right after the PSP launched, most proclaimed that Nintendo was in trouble; everyone from Dan Hsu at EGM, "The DS touch screen is genius, but that won't stop it from being second place to the PSP" to more mainstream opinion like Leo Laporte at TWIT, "Now that PSP is out, nobody's going to want a DS anymore".

It wasn't until well into 2005 that Nintendo introduced games like Brian Age and Nintendogs which really showed what the unique features of the system could provide.  Then came Mario Kart, then NSMB, and then when the Lite model surfaced and the price dropped $20, success was pretty much solidified.

The games will come and so will the sales.  And me personally; I really wish it were $199 instead of $249.  Nintendo would still be seeing about $100 profit on each unit sold and people would be a lot more inclined to pay that for a handheld.

Thanks for replying. I'm sure you can see how the sales may look off to some people. That many units on shelves while selling that much per Week really does look strange.

I guess if you're happy with the figures for 3DS games then there's nothing to worry about on that one

I actually thought this thread would have more discussion anyway. 3DS seems to get a lot of attention in the "Up!" threads.