wraggster
November 10th, 2011, 23:38
Nintendo Of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has admitted that the 3DS has struggled due to its lack of quality software and the belated arrival of the eShop download store, and said that the company has learned valuable lessons ahead of the Wii U's launch next year.
Speaking to Brazilian website UOL Jogos, Fils-Aime said: "The launch of 3DS was very interesting: it caused a great impression at E3 in 2010, had excellent pre-orders and sold more in the first week of release than any other handheld. So, we had many successes with the 3DS.
"But in terms of lessons learned, we need to ensure we have a strong lineup of games when we release hardware - especially titles from Nintendo. Looking back, maybe we did not have the best lineup of games on 3DS. It is also important that the digital resources are available right away. With 3DS, these came after.
"And that's why sales were not so good, which forced us to make some drastic decisions and reduce the price. Since we did it...our sales have been very good. And we have high expectations for the 3DS this Christmas."
Fils-Aime's comments chime with those of Yves Guillemot, who told us last week that games, not price (http://www.next-gen.biz/news/ubisoft-3ds-recovery-depends-price-not-games), remain the most important factor in 3DS's recovery. Nintendo is pinning its hopes on a strong end to the year, and the first signs of a strong Q4 software lineup bearing fruit came from Japan yesterday. Super Mario 3D Land sold almost 350,000 copies (http://www.next-gen.biz/news/mario-3d-land-boosts-3ds-sales-japan) in its first week on sale, with hardware sales more than doubling week on week.
http://www.next-gen.biz/news/fils-aime-regrets-3ds-software-lineup
Speaking to Brazilian website UOL Jogos, Fils-Aime said: "The launch of 3DS was very interesting: it caused a great impression at E3 in 2010, had excellent pre-orders and sold more in the first week of release than any other handheld. So, we had many successes with the 3DS.
"But in terms of lessons learned, we need to ensure we have a strong lineup of games when we release hardware - especially titles from Nintendo. Looking back, maybe we did not have the best lineup of games on 3DS. It is also important that the digital resources are available right away. With 3DS, these came after.
"And that's why sales were not so good, which forced us to make some drastic decisions and reduce the price. Since we did it...our sales have been very good. And we have high expectations for the 3DS this Christmas."
Fils-Aime's comments chime with those of Yves Guillemot, who told us last week that games, not price (http://www.next-gen.biz/news/ubisoft-3ds-recovery-depends-price-not-games), remain the most important factor in 3DS's recovery. Nintendo is pinning its hopes on a strong end to the year, and the first signs of a strong Q4 software lineup bearing fruit came from Japan yesterday. Super Mario 3D Land sold almost 350,000 copies (http://www.next-gen.biz/news/mario-3d-land-boosts-3ds-sales-japan) in its first week on sale, with hardware sales more than doubling week on week.
http://www.next-gen.biz/news/fils-aime-regrets-3ds-software-lineup