JULY 28, 2011 • Only five months after releasing its 3DS handheld system, Nintendo Co. Ltd. announced it was significantly cutting the 3DS MSRP on Aug. 12. The 3DS drops to ¥15,000 in Japan from ¥25,000, and from $249 to $169 in North America. Wholesale prices in Europe would be reduced by one-third. Nintendo’s net loss for the quarter ending June 30 was ¥25.2 billion. By the end of the fiscal year next March, the gamemaker expects its net profit to drop to ¥20 billion from its previous estimate of ¥900 billion.
Impact: Nintendo no longer has the luxury to leisurely feed new devices premium content. Not with new iOS and Android smartphones and tablets popping up every month. Bringing the 3DS to market with a paltry selection of new games to support the system in its first months is the reason for the precipitous drop in sales for the device. A lesson the gamemaker best learn before releasing the Wii U. The fortunes of the 3DS may indeed swing more positive with the 3DS price cut already generating a big uplift in demand at retail and the July first-party release of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D selling over 1 million units worldwide through July 29 according to a Nintendo press statement.
