Used 3DS Sales Double In Japan

[The Wooster]

Used 3DS Sales Double In Japan

While the announcement of an imminent 3DS price drop has halved new 3DS sales, it seems to have doubled used sales.

Quite naturally 3DS sales plummeted [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/112089-Price-Cut-Announcement-Halves-3DS-Sales] when Nintendo announced an eighty dollar price cut was on the way [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111935-Nintendo-Slashing-3DS-Price-by-a-Third]. The twenty free virtual console games that Nintendo is offering as an apology to those who bought the system before the impending August 12th price drop have seemed to do little to placate ornery customers who think the drop is too steep and has come too early. Game hardware retailers in Japan are pleased as punch, however. In response to the announcement, savvy retailers lowered the average price for a used 3DS from the equivalent of $295 to $179, besting the new price of $192 set by Nintendo, doubling used sales of the troubled handheld in the process.

Not only are consumers who buy used getting a 3DS, albeit one potentially covered in sticky fingerprints, for less than Nintendo's new lowered price, they're still able to take part in the Ambassador Program and will receive the 20 free games intended for those who paid full price for the handheld. Cheeky.

While it may be tempting to consider all sales as good sales, Nintendo doesn't see a single penny, or yen in this case, from used sales. While more 3DSs bought should mean more 3DS games sold, that may not necessarily be the case. Since the Gamecube, Nintendo has been suffering from low attach rates for its hardware. Simply put, while plenty of people have bought the Wii and the various incarnations of the DS, they're not buying very many games for them. This is reflected in Nintendo's hardware decisions and pricing. While other console manufacturers traditionally take a loss on each console sold, which they then plan to make up for in games sales, Nintendo does the exact opposite, making most of its money through hardware sales.

A similar situation is occurring in the US, as a rumor abounds that Walmart will be implementing the price drop early [http://www.technobuffalo.com/gaming/portable/some-walmarts-offering-3ds-price-cut-early/], allowing its customers to pick the 3DS up at the lowered price before August 12th and get the twenty free games offered as part of the Ambassador Program.

Source: Andriasang [http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/08/05/3ds_used_systems/]



Permalink

 

[crystalsnow]

These retailers are pulling, as Yahtzee would put it, a Dick Move Extraordinaire.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

These retailers are pulling, as Yahtzee would put it, a Dick Move Extraordinaire.

I'm not sure I understand how...

Because they are charging less?

Or because of the FSD?

 

[ryo02]

they dont see a penny? every used sale is a sale they allready had at the original price plus its a platform they can sell games to would they rather it gather dust and not make them money? while it continues to belong to someone who doesnt want it anymore? and thus wouldnt buy many games for it.

 

[twaddle]

uh...go walmart?....i think....at least nintendo will see some cash from it....then again i'm not sure how i feel about nintendo's buisiness tactics in the past. They may stop all possible indie projects if they have any and may resort into shoving us with more mario titles...ugh

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Somehow, this does not surprise me. I'm still gonna wait for the price cut. And kid Icarus. And MAYBE an eshop version of Yoshi's island (and/or Kirby's dream land 2). Been wanting a portable version of those for a long while (my kirby 2 game cart died ;_.

Or if someone I know wants to sell their 3DS...maybe I'll go do that.

Since the Gamecube, Nintendo has been suffering from low attach rates for its hardware. Simply put, while plenty of people have bought the Wii and the various incarnations of the DS, they're not buying very many games for them.

Well, maybe they should make more good wii games? I have all the good ones (minus Silent hill, conduit 2 and Madworld). Make it rain, nintendo. Make it RAIN. You know what I mean.

And I have plenty of DS games.

 

[Treblaine]

the twenty free games offered as part of the Ambassador Program.

As an ambassador I expect 20 free forrero rocher nibbly things

Spoiler: yar 1980's lies within

0:40

 

[CrystalShadow]

Ah, attach rates.

You know, I tried to look up some attach rate figures to corroborate what this article is saying (probably because I own 18 Wii games... And thus find it a little... dubious.)

Then I saw this: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2006/11/8273.ars

which made me laugh.

But there's some truth to this:

Let's ignore the loss-leading console bit for now, and make some estimates on what the real situation is:

If the attach rate is 4 games, that's better than an attach rate of 2 games, right?

Well, not so fast. Attach rate is "number of games sold / number of consoles sold".

So... is 4 games better than 2? Sure. In principle more is always better.

But... If you sell 100 million consoles, with an attach rate of 2 games, and your competitor sells 50 million consoles with an attach rate of 4 games...

Who has made more money? - Assuming neither a loss, nor a profit on the consoles, and equal amounts of profit per game, both have actually made the same amount of money.

So... The Wii has sold 87 million consoles, Xbox 360 sold 55 million, and PS3 52 million.

We already see that the attach rate for the 360 has to be about 58% higher than the Wii, and the PS3 67% higher.

When you note the Wii is sold for a profit, and just how large the loss on the PS3 actually was at launch, you can see the PS3's attach rate in particular had damn well better be 2-3 times higher than that of the Wii...

But anyway... The problem with this is that lower attach rates are fine, but only if you have a larger install base as a result.

And so far, the 3DS isn't looking that great in that regard.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

In this day and age its dumb to bring out an expensive hand held when it has no games, and then soon to be other verisons of old games. Also advertising that you are also releasing the Wii U as well makes people question what one they want to buy. People have less money now and the 3DS is fuck all added over the DSi. Apart from the 3D thing, which is bullshit.

 

[Treblaine]

Ah, attach rates.

You know, I tried to look up some attach rate figures to corroborate what this article is saying (probably because I own 18 Wii games... And thus find it a little... dubious.)

Then I saw this: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2006/11/8273.ars

which made me laugh.

But there's some truth to this:

Let's ignore the loss-leading console bit for now, and make some estimates on what the real situation is:

If the attach rate is 4 games, that's better than an attach rate of 2 games, right?

Well, not so fast. Attach rate is "number of games sold / number of consoles sold".

So... is 4 games better than 2? Sure. In principle more is always better.

But... If you sell 100 million consoles, with an attach rate of 2 games, and your competitor sells 50 million consoles with an attach rate of 4 games...

Who has made more money? - Assuming neither a loss, nor a profit on the consoles, and equal amounts of profit per game, both have actually made the same amount of money.

So... The Wii has sold 87 million consoles, Xbox 360 sold 55 million, and PS3 52 million.

We already see that the attach rate for the 360 has to be about 58% higher than the Wii, and the PS3 67% higher.

When you note the Wii is sold for a profit, and just how large the loss on the PS3 actually was at launch, you can see the PS3's attach rate in particular had damn well better be 2-3 times higher than that of the Wii...

But anyway... The problem with this is that lower attach rates are fine, but only if you have a larger install base as a result.

And so far, the 3DS isn't looking that great in that regard.

But that is the WHOLE POINT of this story. The 3DS is NOT selling well like the Wii nor even NDS.

It is trudging along selling much less than expected with a VERY early and significant price cut and the used market flooding with trade ins while all everyone can talk about is how few games there are and how $40 is too expensive for them.

Low attack rates(?) LOW ATTACH rates (paging dr freud) are tolerable for Wii, but would be disastrous for 3DS.

 

[theultimateend]

In this day and age its dumb to bring out an expensive hand held when it has no games, and then soon to be other verisons of old games. Also advertising that you are also releasing the Wii U as well makes people question what one they want to buy. People have less money now and the 3DS is fuck all added over the DSi. Apart from the 3D thing, which is bullshit.

Yeah if I wasn't "rolling in green" (as nobody says) I would be upset with my 3DS purchase.

As it stands it is a beautiful pedometer + excel sheet.

Also I get a 3D pokemon picture every day .

Low attack rates are tolerable for Wii, but would be disastrous for 3DS.

I disagree. Have you ever hit someone with a 3DS? They aren't quite as sturdy as a human skull.

 

[Treblaine]

Low attack rates are tolerable for Wii, but would be disastrous for 3DS.

I disagree. Have you ever hit someone with a 3DS? They aren't quite as sturdy as a human skull.

Oh when you pointed that out... I lol'd.

I'm wondering should I fix it or leave it as it is. 3DS must attack... ATTACK! It doesn't have the strength of numbers, every one must figth to the death

 

[theultimateend]

Low attack rates are tolerable for Wii, but would be disastrous for 3DS.

I disagree. Have you ever hit someone with a 3DS? They aren't quite as sturdy as a human skull.

Oh when you pointed that out... I lol'd.

I'm wondering should I fix it or leave it as it is. 3DS must attack... ATTACK! It doesn't have the strength of numbers, every one must figth to the death

The mistake was dear to my heart because I remember people assaulting one another with N64 controllers when they lost at goldeneye.

Those things could do some serious damage if one of the 3 spikes hit your temple.

I had weird friends...

 

[crystalsnow]

I'm not sure I understand how...

Because they are charging less?

Or because of the FSD?

Sigh... Because they're taking advantage of the fact that Nintendo hasn't reduced the price yet, and that used 3DS' still get the free 20 games despite the fact that Nintendo doesn't get a single cent out of the transaction.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

I'm not sure I understand how...

Because they are charging less?

Or because of the FSD?

Sigh... Because they're taking advantage of the fact that Nintendo hasn't reduced the price yet, and that used 3DS' still get the free 20 games despite the fact that Nintendo doesn't get a single cent out of the transaction.

You're right! They didn't get a single cent out of the transaction! Why, I bet they just used their magical 3DS creation device to poof them out of thin air! It's not as if they bought the 3DS's from Nintendo

Suggested retail price is just that, dear reader, a suggestion

 

[Atmos Duality]

Just more fuel for the fire, as it were.

Nintendo, everyone is clamoring for just one simple fact: PUT GOOD FUCKING GAMES ON YOUR SYSTEM.
In a gaming world full of rehashes and remakes, you aren't going to be able to just cruise through again like you did with the Wii fad (and the bar of expectations be set so low in comparison, it might as well have been on the ground).

The clock is ticking Nintendo. Get those games out.
You have great hardware; just give us access to great software.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

You're right! They didn't get a single cent out of the transaction! Why, I bet they just used their magical 3DS creation device to poof them out of thin air! It's not as if they bought the 3DS's from Nintendo

Suggested retail price is just that, dear reader, a suggestion

Okay you're an absolute idiot. Do you not know how used sales work? PEOPLE sell their USED items to a store, and then the STORE sells it back at a higher price.

Kind reader, did you read the OP?

A similar situation is occurring in the US, as a rumor abounds that Walmart will be implementing the price drop early, allowing its customers to pick the 3DS up at the lowered price before August 12th and get the twenty free games offered as part of the Ambassador Program.

Those are brand new sales.

Further, they already got their money when the system was sold in the first place. Google "First Sale Doctrine". Give it a go, dear reader.

Finally, there's no need for namecalling. That's what children do.

 

[ChildofGallifrey]

Just more fuel for the fire, as it were.

Nintendo, everyone is clamoring for just one simple fact: PUT GOOD FUCKING GAMES ON YOUR SYSTEM.
In a gaming world full of rehashes and remakes, you aren't going to be able to just cruise through again like you did with the Wii fad (and the bar of expectations be set so low in comparison, it might as well have been on the ground).

The clock is ticking Nintendo. Get those games out.
You have great hardware; just give us access to great software.

Considering that Nintendo just ignored a massive movement of fans begging them to release 3 already translated games in North America, I'm not optimistic. I'd wager that we're in for another flood of shovelware with a few decent raindrops in the mix.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Ah, attach rates.

You know, I tried to look up some attach rate figures to corroborate what this article is saying (probably because I own 18 Wii games... And thus find it a little... dubious.)

Then I saw this: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2006/11/8273.ars

which made me laugh.

But there's some truth to this:

Let's ignore the loss-leading console bit for now, and make some estimates on what the real situation is:

If the attach rate is 4 games, that's better than an attach rate of 2 games, right?

Well, not so fast. Attach rate is "number of games sold / number of consoles sold".

So... is 4 games better than 2? Sure. In principle more is always better.

But... If you sell 100 million consoles, with an attach rate of 2 games, and your competitor sells 50 million consoles with an attach rate of 4 games...

Who has made more money? - Assuming neither a loss, nor a profit on the consoles, and equal amounts of profit per game, both have actually made the same amount of money.

So... The Wii has sold 87 million consoles, Xbox 360 sold 55 million, and PS3 52 million.

We already see that the attach rate for the 360 has to be about 58% higher than the Wii, and the PS3 67% higher.

When you note the Wii is sold for a profit, and just how large the loss on the PS3 actually was at launch, you can see the PS3's attach rate in particular had damn well better be 2-3 times higher than that of the Wii...

But anyway... The problem with this is that lower attach rates are fine, but only if you have a larger install base as a result.

And so far, the 3DS isn't looking that great in that regard.

But that is the WHOLE POINT of this story. The 3DS is NOT selling well like the Wii nor even NDS.

It is trudging along selling much less than expected with a VERY early and significant price cut and the used market flooding with trade ins while all everyone can talk about is how few games there are and how $40 is too expensive for them.

Low attack rates(?) LOW ATTACH rates (paging dr freud) are tolerable for Wii, but would be disastrous for 3DS.

Low attach rates would be bad for the 3DS considering it's current performance. But they only become truly disastrous if the console is selling at a loss as well.

I don't know if the price drop will do that, but it's a little premature to write off the 3DS completely.

(What made me laugh in the article I linked to though, was that it said high attach rates could in fact be a warning sign that your console is on it's way to being a niche product. - Though that's based on the notion that 'hardcore' gamers are inherently a niche audience.)

Still, one way or the other, there's no denying the 3DS isn't doing so well.