Nintendo bears the brunt of ‘social gaming’ switch
In a sign of the growing segmentation of the handheld videogames market – brought about by the growth in smartphones and tablets, Nintendo is refreshing its games lineup in a bid to meet the challenge head on.
Sales of the 3DS have thus far been disappointing and could fall as many as 3.5m below Nintendo’s 16m target (despite a 40% price cut). Indicating that the addition of a third dimension may not be the magic bullet that manufacturers had hoped for in capturing the public’s imagination.
Instead people are increasingly flocking to cheap and cheerful smartphone and Facebook games which they can share with friends.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told the Tokyo Game Show: “From the end of this year to the beginning of next, we are planning the kind of extensive line-up that has probably never been seen before in the history of video games. We will make an all-out effort to see that the 3DS sells enough to become the successor to the DS.”
Nintendo reported its first ever quarterly operating loss earlier this year and has seen its share price slump in recent days.