The following information and commentary comes from Michael Cai, vice president of Games and Technology at Interpret...
"Based on our research, we knew the 3DS curve would look more like the PSP curve early on. The industry should not base longer-term forecasts on initial sales. We knew that Nintendo was targeting a different audience with the 3DS as part of a conscious effort to go back to core gamers. A lot of the games for the device are targeting the younger male demographic. That's what many in the games industry don't understand. Many people expected Nintendo sales to repeat the DSi story and even added higher expectations."
- awareness of the Nintendo 3DS among gamers spiked from 16% in 2010 to 65% at the wake of its release
- positive purchase interest declined from 22% to 16% over the past year
- 8% of gamers report owning a Nintendo 3DS already
- 64% of those who purchased a 3DS are extremely satisfied with the device
- 34% are somewhat satisfied
- 2% were not satisfied
The following comments come from Michel Pachter...
"Nintendo launched a premium-priced device with very little software support, which the recent E3 lineup was intended to remedy. I don't think that the price is so much of an obstacle as the software lineup, but given the high price, it's hard to justify buying a 3DS instead of a regular DS. Once there is a lot of exclusive software for the 3DS (Luigi's Mansion 2, Kid Icarus Uprising, Mario Kart 3DS, etc.), I expect to see sales pick up. I don't think that 3D phones are as much of a threat as smartphones are. There will be a lot of smartphones, and they will become the de facto entry level phone in a couple of years, meaning that dedicated handheld gaming devices will see their addressable market shrink to only the hardcore."
The following comments come from Samir El Agili, Gameloft's general studio manager..
"We're really excited about 3D gaming on the mobile side. Nintendo 3DS launched and has showed gamers what's possible with 3D gaming without glasses. There are already two 3D mobile devices in the US and more are on the way."