ha ha there was a great debate about your blog among the Pixlbit staffers. Sparked a lot of discussion.
Uh...I Was Just Kidding Guys + Has The 3DS Peaked?
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 On 01/21/2014 at 12:46 PM by gigantor21 See More From This User » |
Well, that came out of nowhere, LOL.
Yeah, I don't have any "secret source" inside Nintendo guys. It was a joke--I went out of my way to pick absolutely ridiculous stuff to poke fun out of the goofy ass rumors about Nintendo on NeoGAF. I don't think there's anyway in hell we'd see a Nintendo phone, or a new powerhouse console next year, or an M-rated Zelda. Didn't expect people to actually believe all that stuff. :p
But yeah, Nintendo. Their projections for the WiiU were stupid to begin with, given how so many key titles STILL don't have a proper release date yet. Still, I doubt anyone expected sales to drop from 2012's, seeing as they only had five months of sales for their 2012 results. Even the Gamecube and Dreamcast managed to sell better in their second year on the market. Between that and the banner sales the Xone and PS4 are getting, its clear that Nintendo has a unsalvegable dud on their hands. Just like Sony does with the Vita (as much as it pains me to say so, as I love mine).
The 3DS's numbers being cut disturbs me just as much, though, if not more.
2013 was a banner year for Nintendo. The sheer amount of top-shelf software they had was nuts:
- Pokemon X/Y
- A Link Between Worlds
- Luigi's Mansion 2
- Animal Crossing New Leaf
- Shin Megami Tensei 4
- Tomodachi Collection
- Monster Hunter 4
- Fire Emblem: Awakening
- Dragon Quest VII
- Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy
- Etrian Odyssey IV
- Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D
- Phoenix Wright Dual Destinies
On top of all that, they released the 2DS, a cheaper entry point aimed squarely at kids. During the holidays, there were all sorts of crazy deals and bundles available. Target had the Zelda XL bundle for something like $130 at one point. All of this led to the 3DS topping the sales charts around the world for almost the entirety of the year, even in November when the new consoles were released.
But even with all that, the 3DS is still set to sell LESS than it did in 2012.
I was wondering what Nintendo could do to fix this...but considering the life cycle for the GBA and the original DS (4 years and 6 years, respectively) I think 2012 and 2013 are the best years the 3DS will get. Indeed, it's likely Nintendo is already making their next handheld.
Even with stuff like Bravely Default and Smash Bros on the horizon, there's simply no way that then software output is going to match last year's--and it would have to exceed it to have a real impact. With the company seeing three consecutive years of losses, I highly doubt we'll be seeing across-the-board price cuts either. Hence there really isn't much Nintendo can do to boost sales at this point.
So the question then becomes: what next?
It's pretty clear that the 3DS is not going to catch the way the DS did. So what does Nintendo do with their next handheld? Will the next device even be a separate handheld, or would they offer a gaming slate with HDMI out tjhat fills both console and mobile roles simultaneously? Because I can't think of what else they can do at this point.
Nintendo is at a crossroads. What direction they take from here is going to be interesting to watch, to put it mildly.
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