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Forums - Sales Discussion - When will DS lose its momentum?!

Li Mu Bai on 25 March 2007

Well said Erik, but you actually question the upcoming DS line-up? DQIX: Protectors of the Sky Etrian Odyssesy Pokemon Diamond Pokemon Pearl Jam Sessions Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon Naruto: Ninja Council 3 SimCity DS MySims Luminous Arc Disciples II Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Brothers in Arms: War Stories DK: King of Swing Opera DS Browser ASH This is assuming of course a few key titles (DQIX, Disciples II, ASH) make the 4th qtr. as projected. Regardless the Pokebomb drops in April.



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Louie on 25 March 2007

Shane said: Erik Aston said: First of all, PSP isn't hugely profitable. It was supposed to buoy PlayStation financially during the early years of PS3 and wind-down of PS2. Thats not happening. Furthermore, while getting 35-40% marketshare (which its falling below already, btw) is nice, "getting a foothold in the market" as you seem to be implying is nonsense. Every market leader in VG history has gotten there with their first entry. They won't. The portable gaming market isn't perceived as a long-term threat to their PC OS monopoly like Google, PlayStation or iPod. And thats really all MS is interested in. The first year or two are rarely profitable. If they are, your system's probably overpriced. Wii's potentially the one exception to this. Every market leader in VG history? So that would be Atari. Who had no competition. Nintendo. Who had no competition. Nintendo again. Who had no competition again. And Sony. Whose competition committed suicide. Sony actually has a fight on its hands with PSP, much like Microsoft is fighting on the console front. Microsoft wants to stem slowing growth. A portable gaming entry would be one avenue worth exploring. Though certainly focusing on just growing the Xbox at this point is the chief objective of the entertainment division.
Atari had no competition? Nintendo had no competition? (a giant dead market is bigger competition than any Sony or Microsoft like company... oh and there was the Master System)... Super NES had no competition? (Megadrive/Genesis? Biggest console war in history?) Sony had no competition with the biggest game company at this time and Sega, too? Okay, you wrote a new gaming history now @Li Mu Bai: Good point. The DS has a huge line-up in the US this year with Pokemon and Legend of Zelda the numbers should stay on a GBA - like level. And for Japan: Even if no games are released brain training and co. are selling the system. It´s nearly impossible for Nintendo to sell less than 25 million systems there. This thing could even pass the GB´s 30 million and become the best selling system ever in Japan... this is huge... Two years ago I expected the DS to sell 50 million consoles till 2010 and the PSP so too. And now the DS is selling better than any other system. Nintendo had a hell of luck with the system.



Shane on 25 March 2007

Louie said: Erik Aston said: Atari had no competition? Nintendo had no competition? (a giant dead market is bigger competition than any Sony or Microsoft like company... oh and there was the Master System)... Super NES had no competition? (Megadrive/Genesis? Biggest console war in history?) Sony had no competition with the biggest game company at this time and Sega, too?
Who was Atari's competition? Recreating a market can be tough, but you don't have to outspend/outdo anyone to do so. Master System was both a joke and late to the party. Super Nintendo did have competition, which is why Nintendo began to stutter (actually, the real problem was that Nintendo underestimated the importance of technology, as always), but that wasn't the generation in which Nintendo established itself. No, Sony had no competition. Saturn and N64 were both dead before they launched, and every major developer had signed with Sony by the time N64 launched. They didn't have it as easy as Nintendo had it, but what fight they did have was won by default.



Louie on 25 March 2007

Shane said: Louie said: Erik Aston said: Atari had no competition? Nintendo had no competition? (a giant dead market is bigger competition than any Sony or Microsoft like company... oh and there was the Master System)... Super NES had no competition? (Megadrive/Genesis? Biggest console war in history?) Sony had no competition with the biggest game company at this time and Sega, too? Who was Atari's competition? Recreating a market can be tough, but you don't have to outspend/outdo anyone to do so. Master System was both a joke and late to the party. Super Nintendo did have competition, which is why Nintendo began to stutter (actually, the real problem was that Nintendo underestimated the importance of technology, as always), but that wasn't the generation in which Nintendo established itself. No, Sony had no competition. Saturn and N64 were both dead before they launched, and every major developer had signed with Sony by the time N64 launched. They didn't have it as easy as Nintendo had it, but what fight they did have was won by default.
At the time Atari was on the market there were about 5 consoles competing and Atari "died" because of all these manufacturers who fighted against each other with price drops etc. Nintendo was not just recreating a market they were competing against home computers (and they were the real competition cause they were the reason videogames died in europe and they took over the market in the US.) Sony had big competition - in fact the N64 sold more than 2x better than the PS3 does now. Should we say PS3 is no competiton? Replace Wii with PSX and PS3 with N64 and you´ve got the situation in which the PSX launched - the N64 was a mighty machine. But of course, there was never competiton in the videogame market cause we just count the company that won Did you even experience the 16 bit and the 32/64 bit fight? @ RolStoppable: Yes, that could be true but honestly I think Nintendo didn´t expect the DS to gain such a momentum and especially Brain Age was an unexpected top seller. That´s what I meant. Sorry if it was confusing to read...



Li Mu Bai on 25 March 2007

Oh, I forgot to mention more multiple million & million sellers than the PS, PS2, GC, DC, N64, ww as a platform. I never would've believed it, but it's simply a phenomenon.



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Ovelia on 26 March 2007

Brain Age is not unexpected in Japan as brain training activities are already a BIG trend supported by the Japanese government there at the time of its release, and the professor you see in the game is actually the main promoter of the whole movement.



Quartz on 26 March 2007

Comparing the DS to the PS2 is a bit daft, considering one is a handheld and the other is a 'sit on the bench' console. Personally I think the DS will still make a killing until it's dying days as the main handheld. Even if Sony pull off another handheld alongside it's PS3, at best they will only make a dent on the handheld market. Heck, even if there was to come a time that Nintendo can't keep up on the console market all they would need to do is think 'Hey lets make another handheld'. Job done!



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Louie on 26 March 2007

Ovelia said: Brain Age is not unexpected in Japan as brain training activities are already a BIG trend supported by the Japanese government there at the time of its release, and the professor you see in the game is actually the main promoter of the whole movement.
Read what Nintendo executives and spokesmen said: It was unexpected. They believed it could sell good but nobody believed it would be a 4 million seller...



Erik Aston on 26 March 2007

Louie said: Ovelia said: Brain Age is not unexpected in Japan as brain training activities are already a BIG trend supported by the Japanese government there at the time of its release, and the professor you see in the game is actually the main promoter of the whole movement. Read what Nintendo executives and spokesmen said: It was unexpected. They believed it could sell good but nobody believed it would be a 4 million seller...
And how about the Western sales... 1.4 m in NA? 2 million shipped to Europe? And still selling consistently.



"[Our former customers] are unable to find software which they WANT to play."
"The way to solve this problem lies in how to communicate what kind of games [they CAN play]."

Satoru Iwata, Nintendo President. Only slightly paraphrased.

Shane on 26 March 2007

Since people were able to produce games in their garage for the 2600, the market got so flooded with crap that it collapsed. Without windows, a PC market for gaming is pretty negligible. N64 launched well because it was from Nintendo. Nintendo always launches well, which is why I can't understand the "OMG Nintendo will come in first and sell more than every other system ever!!!!!11111dragon" atmosphere resulting from 3 months of strong sales on very strong supply.