Nintendo to drop the price of the 3DS by about 30%

[Jeff]

Been wanting Pokédex 3D, or the upcoming Pokémon Rumble Blast, but found the 3DS's current price too steep? Well, in just two weeks, the price of the 3DS will drop in several regions making it much more affordable to everyone:

Japan: ¥25,000 to ¥15,000
U.S.: $249.99 to $169.99
Australia: $349.95 to $249.95

In Europe, prices are set individually by retailers, but those retailers will also be dropping the 3DS's price by about 30%, matching the price drops in other regions.

Existing 3DS owners need not worry however. 20 classic NES and Game Boy Advance games will be available to anyone who connects to the eShop before noon on August 11th. The price drop goes into effect the following day.

[Drago]

To quote Blade...



It was worth getting it early for all those StreetPasses, I guess.

EDIT: I hadn't spotted that last paragraph at first. Thanks for that, Nintendo. I always get screwed over by early handheld purchases, and I'm thankful that they're throwing me a bone this time.

[mr_pikachu]

Yeah, it's a great sign that they're dropping the price by $80 just a few months after launch. I'd say that bodes remarkably well for the system....

[Drago]

They've said it themselves: the system is loaded with potential, but it lacks the software. I myself only own one game. OoT will help, but they need to push out new games quick smart, like the upcoming Super Mario, before Vita hits the market.

[mr_pikachu]

True. I don't think they can sit back and wait for another Wii miracle, where innovative hardware and one powerful title (Wii Sports) combine to singlehandedly drive the system's success.

(...I don't care what anyone says about Twilight Princess. Wii Sports owned the software side of the Wii for the first couple of years, mostly because it actually used the motion control in a halfway-realistic manner.)

I agree with you on the game issue, Tony. However, they've also got the skepticism barrier to overcome here, I think. The 3DS got a lot of publicity before its launch, but not all of it was good. I think there are a lot of parents who won't have tried the 3DS but will have heard that maybe it's not great for kids' eyes. Concerned parents = lost customers (at least for now). Additionally, I've talked with several fellow gamers who basically said they can't use the 3D feature without it wreaking havoc on their senses, so they'd have to play 3DS titles in 2D mode. Why spend a bunch of extra money for something that you can only use as a DS?

Perhaps the biggest difference between the Wii's success and the 3DS' future, though -- aside from the March disaster in Fukushima, which has certainly curtailed sales -- is the number of recent systems. The Wii followed the Gamecube, which by any fair account underperformed sales-wise. The Wii, then, grabbed back a lot of those customers who hadn't experienced the Nintendo sensation since the N64. On the other hand, Nintendo's saturated its own handheld market as of late. We had the DS at the end of 2004, then the DS Lite in 2006, the DSi in 2009, and finally the DSi XL (lots of letters) in March 2010. That was a reasonable enough pace until the release-a-new-handheld-every-year trend started in '09.

I don't know about you, but I only got one of the aforementioned four systems (the DS Lite, which I love), and the fact that they kept releasing more left me with a bad feeling about Nintendo handhelds. With all the little size and camera tweaks that Nintendo kept pulling, it's hard not to view any new handheld as a little gimmicky. And, certainly, anyone who was foolish enough to pick up the flashy new DSi XL last year must be steaming right now. Besides, Nintendo didn't think the 3DS was important enough to withhold the Pokemon Black and White release just a little bit. As we all know, that broke Nintendo's streak of releasing every new generation on a new handheld -- which should tell you something about Nintendo's confidence in the 3DS as a standalone system. Furthermore, if they needed a few big-name titles to kick-start 3DS sales, why not Pokemon? Either they badly misplayed their strategy, or the marketing team didn't think that would be enough to help the 3DS along.

In any case, we'll see if Nintendo can get the ball rolling. I just hope that they have some tricks up their sleeve to recover from this early blow.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

If anybody finds any hints about the European release date, be sure to inform me straight away!

[mr_pikachu]

Nintendo 3DS Ambassador programme

Looks like it will happen on the same date in Europe as the aforementioned countries, just without a formal retail price drop (since there is no equivalent, as Jeff discussed earlier). Most of the speculation I've seen indicates that the cut will follow the reduction trend of "around a third," which would imply a drop from £219 to around £140-150.

I do have to wonder if any rogue retailers will drop their prices a few days early to spur some frantic purchases. After all, what gamer wouldn't want to take advantage of the reduction and get the free games before the deadline? It'll be interesting to see if anyone tries that trick, and how consumers and the industry will react if so.