If you’ve been reading proper videogame news sites over the last couple of days, you will have seen reports of sales slumps across console formats.
Sony’s PS3 sales are dropping (selling 1.8 million units over the last 3 months… when you consider the PS2 is still selling 1.4 million, that’s gotta be ringing some alarm bells), and Nintendo are finally starting to see serious sales declines across the board now that everybody and their dog has a Wii and a DS. Both sold around 3 million in a quarter this time last year and only half of that this year.
Then, of course, there’s the 3DS – Nintendo’s new golden child, which has only sold 770,000 units in the last quarter – enough for Nintendo to pull a Sony and announce a giant price drop.
The question is, though, why is it doing so poorly? I think I have a couple of solid theories.
Has anyone considered that in the eyes of the “Blue Ocean” market that Nintendo fleeced so well for the last 5 years, the 3DS is just another DS – and they’ve already tried to sell them one of those 4 times already. These type of people don’t care about specifications, I think that’s pretty obvious by the amount of Wii units that have been sold. Maybe if they’d named the 3DS the “Nintendo Doublescreen 3D Boy Super Machine”, or another name equally distant from the DS brand that these people already own, they’d be clamouring for the new handheld like slavering gibbons.
Or it could be that Nintendo’s day in the sun is over, and all those people who bought a DS or Wii for Brain Training, Wii Fit, and the like are now bored of their old toys, don’t want another games console, and looking for the next fad bandwagon to jump on like the brainless sheep they are…. Take your pick.
I’m kind of hoping it’s the latter. Wouldn’t it be nice to have our hobby back?
The market that lapped up the Wii and DS have already found their next bandwagon and they’ve realized that it won’t cost them hundreds of pounds to take part.
Say hello Angry Birds, FarmVille and other such cheap/free entertainment aimed at the casual, fad loving mass market.
I think you got it on the head, right there.
Spot on with the “Fad” answer, Nintendo never really knew what was going to hit them. Even I did a Nintendo update for tomorrow, and that’s not supposed to happen. But a 40% price cut in 5 months?! No, that needs coverage.
Also note:
Wii – approx 1.5 Million sales this quarter
PS2 – approx 1.4 Million sales this quarter
The Wii is only just outselling the PS2!
THE FUCKING PS2, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.
It’s the end of the (gaming) world as we know it.
And I feel fine. :D
Yup. Surely now’s the time the small independent game coder rises and takes over, being able to quickly knock up fun little games in a fraction of the time (and cost) the big studios take to make their latest blockbuster? A blockbuster which, if it fails, is liable to take the whole studio with it?
You could be the next Jeff Minter, if you took enough drugs.
Would be interesting to see a return similar to the days of Atari where gamers made games themselves. I always wana see more fan coded games. I want consoles to go the way of pc and encourage more user content.
“Return to the days of Atari”?
If it stops Bushnell spouting complete drivel I’d be up for that…