Well first off Reuters article says sales slumped back down to 55,000 units a week, which does not line up with VGChartz data which suggests sales are still around 200,000 a week. That's a drastic difference either VGChartz is severely over tracking or Enterbrain doesn't know shit. I think the fact that LoZ:OoT is in the top ten on the software charts shows that the 3DS is capable of competing with the big boys.
Fact is even 14-million units within a year is a big deal. Sure its not as big as DS and may even fall abit short of PSP, however those sales are nothing to laugh at. Software sales are already pretty strong with StreetFighter already over 500,000 copies sold, that is a huge accomplishment considering how small the user base is.
This panic about smartphones and tablets is pure cowardliness and nothing more. Investors scare all the time and they don't see the big picture. Nintendo will sell alot of software at much higher profit margins then any iOS game will. Even titles that only break 100K will see more profit then a iOS game. If Nintendo were to release games for iOS devices or even competitors consoles they would make far less from their software.
I'm a little disappointed in share holders in Capcom as well. Dropping shares because Capcom is going to support a growing platform is insane Capcom's games always do well and 3DS has proven a big game could sell upwards of a million units right now. I fully expect Monster Hunter 3G to sell at least 500k if not a million. If Monster Hunter 4 is exclusive then I'm guessing it will sell at least a mill, investors have no reason to be panicking!
I see this in a different light. Nintendo is selling over 200K a week and I expect that to increase drastically closer to Christmas maybe even break the million mark if Nintendo's lucky. The titles from Capcom and Nintendo's own first party offerings really make me believe Nintendo will manage to pull out of this. The new analog peripheral will sell well I hope. It will also increase Vita ports and bring in more console based titles. Already 6 titles have been confirmed to use the upgrade.
Then in 2013, once 3DS has a good user base of about 30-million I expect Nintendo to announce a new model. This new model will re-invigorate hardware sales. Hopefully by that time Nintendo will see increased software sales and third party support will pick up.
In the end if Nintendo can release enough software to support 3DS, the sales will follow. They may be gradual and alot slower then DS's were but they will indeed improve. Also if Nintendo cuts the DS line I think 3DS sales will boost dramatically. There is still alot of chances for Nintendo to save 3DS and this article is highly inaccurate!
