3DS Sales Continue Slow

It's lonely here in 3DS land.

Nintendo continues to struggle with selling the 3DS. While they recently achieved the milestone of 1 million units sold in Japan, that's not something to celebrate for them. Why not? Because it took Nintendo far longer than they originally predicted to sell that number. Nintendo initially projected that they would sell 1.5 million 3DS units in Japan before the end of March. Instead, they've just now hit 1.06 million units, some three months later than they envisioned (and still 500K short of their goal).

Nintendo's hoping that the introduction of their online eShop, and some better games scheduled for later this year, will boost the sales. So far Nintendo has pooh-pooh'ed any suggestion that they might have to lower the price, especially with the PS Vita coming later this year at the same $249 price point as the 3DS. Sure, they can say that now, but if 3DS sales don't jump up in the next few months the question of a price reduction will surely be raised again.

It will be interesting to see if the Wii price reduction gives it a boost this summer. Nintendo may be getting just a tad desperate looking forward to the holidays if their sales picture doesn't improve by then.

I don't think 3D movies on the 3DS will be enough to save it... especially since 3D seems to be treated with increasing disdain by movie-going audiences, who rightly see it as an attempt by studios to justify higher ticket prices.