Slim debut sales for fatter Nintendo 3DS
Fewer than 10k XLs sold, hints market watcher
The 3DS XL was picked up by less than 10,000 UK punters following its British debut this past Saturday, underlining the decline handheld consoles have experienced over the years.
While Ninty has yet to officially release official sales figures, initial estimates tacitly said to have been made by market watcher Chart-Track show the 3DS XL sales just failed to hit five figures in the UK, Games Industry reports.
That number relates to sales in the 3DS XL's first chart week, but with the device launched on a Saturday, the Nintendo machine was only on sale for two of those seven days.
These results are barely a scratch on the 3DS launch figure, that machine having reportedly racked up in excess of 100,000 UK sales during its first two days of availability, back in 2011.
That was a fresh hardware release, but when Nintendo launched the DSi XL - the fourth revision of the original DS range - it flogged 100,000 units here in two days at retail too.
The PS Vita was said by Sony to have racked up over 60,000 unit sales in the first few days of UK availability.
The last few months have been particularly bad for consumer sales in the UK. The XL's reception in Japan should keep any Nintendo disappointment at bay. The chunky console sold almost 200,000 units over there. Bowzers.
You can read what we thought about the Nintendo 3DS XL here on Reg Hardware. ®
COMMENTS
More likely because everyone assumes they'll drop the price in a few weeks time
Nintendo in low sales of another DS rehash shocker!
"underlining the decline handheld consoles have experienced over the years"
There may well be a decline in handheld consoles but I'd put a fair amount of money on betting that is in large part down to Nintendo and their continuous stream of slight rehashes which are sold at full price, more or less, a year after the original. DS, DS Lite, DSi, DSi XL, 3DS, 3DS XL and lets not forget "now available in <different colour>!"...... The only real differing hardware in those models comes down to size, a camera and 3D. If you ignore the 3D then even the original DS can still play new games so you're essentially seeing re-releases that somehow still sell millions to the same crowd.
At least the Sony is attempting new things and the really sad thing is that they're ignored in favour of a new DS colour. I really do hope this is a sign that people are waking up to the same old tactic of new colour / bigger screen / tiny hardware addition that Nintendo have profited from for over a decade.
No surprise
Terrible platform, terrible games. I don't know why they don't just release a DS with all the decent games (5 of them) built into it and forget about making new ones. I own a DS and have played the only good games on it:
1) GTA Chinatown Wars
2) Mario Kart (ripped off from other console)
3) Mario World (rehash of classic)
4) Zelda Phantom Hourglass
5) Mario Brothers
The gimmicky 3DS only served to make my device obselete...awesome.
Re: part of it is about price I think
Personally, for me, it's more like £200 = a shedload of games on my existing PC.
I don't see handheld gaming as anything more than a short timewaster on the train, or for kids. But now kids tend to have "their own" laptop, of some fashion, or you have a phone for those half-hour journeys that not only plays games but connects to t'Internet too.
I don't think I can seriously consider a gaming console until it's under £100 any more. My Wii wasn't, and I bought it brand-new. And I got a Linux-based handheld gaming machine (the GP2X) for much less than that several years ago that's still doing just fine and runs more than any commercial console ever could via emulation of older systems. £100 is a lot of money. That's multiple trips to the cinema, half-a-dozen full-price DVD's or PC games, two or three "blockbuster" title video games, enough petrol to get my car from London to Scotland, etc.
I don't see that it really compares well to say that yet-another-iteration of a top handheld console (without some of the essential gadgets or any really sizeable library of games to play on it) costs twice that. Granted, there are different use cases, but I can get a half-decent laptop by the time you've kitted out a new DS with a couple of games the seemingly-"vital" second analogue stick, power adaptors, cases, etc. Hell, my employers saw an Android tablet that I bought my mum and was so impressed they bought me one for work and I could *easily* get 2 or maybe even 3 of those for the price of this console (or one loaded to the rafters with pay-for games and apps). My phone didn't even cost that and it does a whole lot more, just without the fancy 3D effects (Have they died yet? Can we forget about them again and resurrect them in 20+ years like we normally do?).
I think Nintendo are very business-savvy, but I don't think they are in a growth market any more. Casual games are too prolific, "serious" games are too powerful and expensive, the middle ground is being pushed by all sides on all manner of platforms.
I own a Wii because it's a cool, cheap little thing to pull out when friends are over for ten minutes and they''re not particularly gamers but want to relax and have a laugh (but, saying that, we choose to play an 1970's board game last time they were over). I haven't owned anything "console" prior to that since, well, probably the Super Nintendo when I was a kid. Yet I play hundreds of hours of games - sometimes too much - and we're not talking AAA titles at all, or ancient things from old platforms that nobody's ever heard of, just some cheap, fun games to entertain.
£200 is a lot of money and always has been. If you don't think you'll get that value back (i.e. you already own a DS of some kind, etc.) then it's probably not something you'd be interested in. The Wii, you get your money's-worth in entertainment (at least, virtually everyone did). To me, though, that should be a GUARANTEED 200+ hours of entertainment even if I just buy stuff I already have on Steam wishlists and the like. Yeah, I'd pick up a lot of dross too, most likely, but the pricing would mean that it wouldn't matter - I'd still get my value out of the money. I don't see me getting that out of the DS and one game, personally. And even if I did, it was a hell of a risk to hope it would happen with one particular game.
Extra stick
And they fecked up by not adding the extra control stick. I was waiting with anticipation when the XL was announced but thoroughly disappointed by the lack of the extra controls. So I haven't rushed to buy one.
