The company is worrying that it's not shifting enough units of the hands-free 3D console, because people don't get it. Yet
We've got used to Nintendo surprising us. No one gave the Wii a chance in hell before it was released ? then one look at those controllers and suddenly everyone and their gran wanted one. Meanwhile, the Nintendo DS has steadily become the biggest selling console of all time, mostly thanks to brain training, virtual dogs and adventure games filled with logic puzzles.
So when the company announced the 3DS ? a neat evolution of its smash hit handheld device, complete with glasses-free 3D ? it looked like another Nintendo must-have. But earlier this week, the company's president Satoru Iwata was forced to admit that the contraption hasn't sold as well as the company had hoped, shifting 3.61m units in the first month on sale, and not the 4m that it had modestly predicted.
In an investor call, Iwata intriguingly stated:
The value of 3D images without the need for special glasses is hard to be understood through the existing media. However, we have found that people cannot feel it just by trying out a device, rather, some might even mis-estimate it when experiencing the images in an improper fashion.
"We think it is very important to provide people with contents in which they can easily experience glasses-less 3D images. In particular, we need to enhance the contents which can be enjoyed passively by non-active users, like a 3D video distribution service. We will promptly work on this after the currently planned hardware update.
That's a rather shocking admission ? that consumers don't understand the appeal of 3D games, so they need to be provided with linear 3D content to make sense of the console's USP. Nintendo doesn't usually need a Trojan horse to get people to click with its products ? the products just speak for themselves. Sure, the Wii remote mimicked a TV remote controller, but players didn't have to actually watch a few minutes of TV to understand it.
More telling though, was Iwata's admission that a lot of consumers seem to be waiting for better titles: "There aren't yet so many people who are absolutely sure that now is the time to buy it," he said. And certainly, the lacklustre launch line-up drew criticism from many industry news sources ? compounded by the fact that a lot of the online and DLC services are only switching on in May. He also states that the company hasn't managed to communicate the other features of the device ? ie, augmented reality and StreetPass. Ironically, these are the elements that many in the industry believe will emerge as the true selling points of the technology.
This is probably just a blip, but what should Nintendo do now? Is it about cranking out another ad with the Redknapps (perhaps featuring Jamie swapping Streetpass data as he delivers his monotone pundity in the Sky Sports studio)? Is it about hurrying up and getting a bunch of Mario titles out on shop shelves? Or must we simply accept that, after the failure of Virtual Boy in 1996, 3D is to be the nausea-inducing albatross around Nintendo's otherwise blameless neck?
Come on, help Iwata out here!
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2011/apr/28/nintendo-3ds-sales-disappointing
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