------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |System | This Week | Last Week | Last Year | YTD | Last YTD | LTD | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | PSP | 49.427 | 24.053 | 30.302 | 751.974 | 810.249 | 17.402.186 | | 3DS | 23.038 | 28.252 | 0 | 920.133 | 0 | 920.133 | | PS3 | 19.033 | 22.265 | 25.629 | 446.353 | 543.284 | 6.533.843 | | NDS | 13.561 | 14.956 | 30.105 | 376.395 | 785.199 | 32.527.094 | | WII | 7.866 | 8.122 | 23.691 | 243.980 | 600.748 | 11.523.615 | | 360 | 1.891 | 1.898 | 2.214 | 37.510 | 50.960 | 1.458.007 | | PS2 | 1.163 | 1.261 | 1.490 | 27.561 | 31.074 | 21.723.653 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ALL | 115.979 | 100.807 | 113.431 | 2.803.906 | 2.821.514 | 92.088.531 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | DSiLL | 7.064 | 7.724 | 16.676 | 193.818 | 403.165 | 2.141.401 | | DSi | 6.214 | 6.809 | 10.640 | 165.337 | 302.164 | 5.709.061 | | DSL | 283 | 423 | 2.789 | 17.240 | 79.870 | 18.091.161 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | PSP | 49.162 | 23.846 | 28.758 | 737.647 | 783.245 | 17.227.435 | | PSPgo | 265 | 207 | 1.544 | 14.327 | 27.004 | 174.751 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Look at the PSP go (heh)! And look how pathetic Nintendo hardware is in Japan.
It is quite breathtaking to see how rapidly the 3DS declined:
Week 1 – 374,764
Week 2 – 209,623
Week 3 – 96,463
Week 4 – 61,394
Week 5 – 50,710
Week 6 – 42,979
Week 7 – 32,910
Week 8 – 28,252
Week 9 – 23,038
Since next week is Golden Week, sales should go up everywhere.
Remember how I said when the DS originally came out, it was being outsold by the PSP? I blame Mario 64 DS and other lackluster DS software for that. It only wasn’t until the DS began committing to non-3d software that it began to really take off. The only 3d game people like on the DS was Mario Kart. Despite the huge install base of the DS and despite Mario 64 DS being available since launch, that game didn’t move much in numbers.
I don’t see Ocarina of Time doing anything longterm for 3DS because the original game didn’t do anything for the N64. It is highly improbable a decade plus port will be a game changer.
What about Mario Kart 3DS? This is a good question. I’ve always seen Mario Kart as a support game, not a killer app people buy the hardware in order to get. Once people have the hardware, they then automatically get Mario Kart. Mario Kart sales seem to be slightly below whatever killer app is on the system.
Will Super Mario 3DS change the 3DS trajectory? No one buys Nintendo hardware for 3d Mario, I don’t see why people would start now.
The real question is 2d Mario on the 3DS. But seeing how 2d Mario didn’t save the Wii in Japan, it is unlikely 2d Mario will save the 3DS in Japan.
Nintendo’s business side shot down the 3DS initially because of how badly 3d orientated hardware worked in the past. Somehow, this ironclad business side was talked into going with the 3DS.
But the 3DS decline is especially panicking beyond the Gamecube for two reasons:
1) This is the handheld market, not the home console. Nintendo has never had problems with their handheld market. Nintendo has also never tried to force 3d onto the handheld market either.
2) Nintendo developers are emotionally invested in 3d development. Should the market reject 3d, this is a huge, huge blow. Iwata and Miyamoto, in Iwata Asks interviews leading up to the 3DS release, were talking about how amazing they were as they talked about previous failed 3d efforts and talked of the 3DS as if it were going to be a major hit.
The next shoe to drop will be minor executives leaving. Higher ups in NOA or NOE, frustrated that NCL seems obsessed on 3d beyond reason, would decide to get out while they still can. This is what I’m on the look out for.