mr_pikachu
30th July 2011, 08:47 PM
As a follow-up to our earlier story (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?t=22786) about the massive 3DS price drop, Bloomberg of Japan (http://www.bloomberg.co.jp/apps/news?pid=90920000&sid=aiRPDx3CQhjw) reports that Nintendo will take a loss on all future sales of the 3DS after the reduction takes effect on August 12. According to a translation by Anoop Gantayat of Andriasang (http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/07/29/3ds_losses/), Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata told reporters that the price cut was nonetheless necessary to improve future 3DS hardware and games sales.
Given that a meager 710,000 3DS units were sold from April through June of this year, according to Nintendo's Earnings Release (http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2011/110728e.pdf), it appears that Nintendo executives are willing to take a loss on their hardware and hope to recoup those losses in game sales. One might recall that Sony attempted a similar strategy upon the release of the PlayStation 3 console, with mixed results. Time will tell whether consumers buy into the 3DS price drop as a daring stroke of genius, proving the company believes in its system and its games enough to gamble on them, or view it as nothing more than a desperate attempt to salvage a failing system.
Given that a meager 710,000 3DS units were sold from April through June of this year, according to Nintendo's Earnings Release (http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2011/110728e.pdf), it appears that Nintendo executives are willing to take a loss on their hardware and hope to recoup those losses in game sales. One might recall that Sony attempted a similar strategy upon the release of the PlayStation 3 console, with mixed results. Time will tell whether consumers buy into the 3DS price drop as a daring stroke of genius, proving the company believes in its system and its games enough to gamble on them, or view it as nothing more than a desperate attempt to salvage a failing system.