Nintendo: Price won't stop 3DS being "biggest launch" to date
UK general manager confident launch pre-orders will be met; 500,000 to sample system in UK tours
Nintendo has said that the high price of the 3DS handheld in the UK won't stop the system from being the company's biggest hardware launch to date.
Speaking at the 3DS conference in Europe today, Nintendo UK general manger David Yarnton told GamesIndustry.biz that there are no consumer electronics on the market that compare to the 3DS, and that quality of content will prove the asking price - which climbs £250 when the hardware is bought with one game.
"Indications that we've had so far from retail is that they are really happy with the price and demand indicates it will be our biggest launch in terms of hardware," said Yarnton.
"The DS for us was huge in 2005 and in 2006 the Wii was even bigger. Retailers - especially with the environment they are in - are right behind it. It's a new format. In the last ten years, the innovation that we've bought to the market, people may have looked at the price to begin with but it was soon forgotten because of the quality of the product and the content that's available."
Although Nintendo in North America set a RRP of $249 for the system, in the UK Nintendo has only committed to a trade price, leaving retailers to set their own price points around £219-£229.
"If you look at the value proposition, there's not a 3D entertainment device in the market at that price point. Not only a device that you can play games on but as a communication device, being able to download content with some of our partners like Eurosport and Sky," added Yarnton.
Earlier in the month Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said the company plans to ship 4 million units of the 3DS worldwide, with around 2.5 million earmarked for the US and Europe. Although Yarnton was unable to discuss final stock numbers for the UK, he did say that Nintendo should be able to honour all launch pre-orders.
"We're comfortable with the stock we've got and retailers are too. One of the things we're working with retail on, and is really important as far as we're concerned, is pre-orders with our customers so that we can make sure the stock is in the right places and we don't just go and give stock willy-nilly to the market.
"We need to make sure we can satisfy that consumer demand. So pre-orders are really important and that's how we're looking to allocate second chances of stock based on the retailer pre-orders. We're pretty confident we'll be able to guarantee whatever they pre-order," he said.
Addressing the marketing issues of selling a system where the 3D effects can only be appreciated with hands-on time rather than more traditional TV advertising, Yarnton said Nintendo would step-up sampling activities, and target up to 500,000 consumers from launch until the Easter sales period.
"We've had huge sampling experiences on Wii and DS in the past and we properly started that whole touring the product, we've been doing that for years. With 3DS it's going to be the biggest sampling campaign that we've ever done.
"We're looking at between 4-500,000 consumer samples up to Easter this year. And because we're doing a combination of not only interactive in stores but also consumer events, and then samples in shopping centres... we see the opportunity as so important. How do we explain the 3D? We can paint a picture but until you actually experience it you're not going to see the full value of it. Sampling is huge, it's a major investment for us."
The full interview with David Yarnton is live now
Anyone selling at £249.99 would be losing sales.
I'm in Aus, and at this stage we haven't heard anything about prices, but I'm betting it's going to be about AU $350, which is roughly US$340. Even though the system's region locked I'd probably buy it from the US and gamble on the exchange rate staying favourable for the next couple of years.
I'd rather pay more for something i'll actually use, i've paid big money in the pas for products which didn't deliver such as the PSP, 3D Zelda and Street Fighter will be awesome!
If Nintendo released in one territory, then the price might be too high to sell their monthly production, but if they release in all territories, they will still sell out. It is also funny how their mobile system is now more expensive than their home console. A shining testament to the way people spend their money these days; overpriced mobile devices for the win.
That said, I will still probably get one, though at £40 a game, I doubt I will ever buy a game from a shop ever again, that's just too much. (For me, anyway) Online discount is the way forward...
Granted it is pricey with limited games on sale. Sill I'm sure there will be a sell out and even a temporary lack of availability.
The price is about right, what is missing is the tax. The American prices never have VAT added as it's set state by state, the UK price of £217 has VAT, so take 20% off and you've got alsost the same price.
...still alot of money though!
ASDA Entertainment.
I really want Zelda 3D, and the console looks nice. I personally may have been willing to go up to around £180...if I didn't already have a DS, but I already did this fairly recently for the DSi XL, and I just can't afford to do the same again, even taking off any small amount I'd get for trading in (if anywhere would take a Japanese import). How many others will be thinking the same?
On a slightly more upbeat note, we have taken maybe around 10 preorders at our store, and those willing to put deposits down before a price was announced wil probably pay anything.
And the point about tax, yes, tax at anything from 13% to 25% is added to the price you see, so in fact, the price of the system here (in Canada where I live), is more expensive than the UK.
I think, the 3DS is a great little portable piece of hardware. The real concern is the games that are available on Launch. To be honest, i am hard pressed to factor in anything to really enthuse a impulse buy on launch or within the next 6 months.
Are there any worthy titles I have missed perhaps?
I was looking forward towards a proper Resident Evil title for 3DS, but mercenaries is not teh kind of title I'd be interested in.
Imagine something like Uncharted on 3DS. Now that would be pretty ace!!!
As for other titles, it's considered by many to have the strongest launch window line up in history (or at least pre-launch announced titles).
[link url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_3DS_games
]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nin...[/link]
That's quite a substantial list already.
I'd love to see Advance Wars DS. :)
I didn't think about the tax, thanks for clearing that up :)
Also with the region lock in place...expect many people in the know to import the American version who want to play the Japanese RPGs that don't make it out to Europe.
And expect those who love their Japanese Music and Visual Novels to import a Japanese 3DS.
Everyone else who gets the games they want easily will not notice anything strange...
It is always those who have a different taste in games compared to the norm who always get burnt.
I've always been a handheld-Gameboy-DS guy. I'd spend more time with portables than I do with home consoles because it's just convinient to me and I just like 'em. The 3DS is the ultimate portable game system for me and I will be a proud owner of it. And I'll be getting the next 2 revisions no doubt to then set up my "Consoles I've Owned Over The Years" display case. Kinda want to have the different versions of consoles and each will have a favorite game of mine (not revisions, unless it's exclusive to it like Gameboy Color games). But that's too far ahead.
Next thing I have to do is pick my Aqua Blue color. Reminds me of my ol' Gameboy Pocket :)
Other than the alleged 3D aspect, are the specs better than the DSi?
Actually been looking forward to it for ages, but am ambivalent due to their pricing point.
There are some places selling for around £190 (too good to be true ya reckon?)
Dr. I recall Nintendo talking about offering up an API for restaurants to use that would put their menu and perhaps even an ordering system on it making it accessible to a 3DS. Likely a feature that will stay in Japan but we can always hope.
Ok well that's more like it ! :) I must say the idea of taking 3D images is intetresting, but I wont be able to see them anywhere else will I and their resolution will be poor.
I just can't imagine that the games will be fully 3D'ified, but if I know Nintendo whatever they do it will be pretty amazing where it is used. As long as it's not just the videos in 3D (which I heard a rumour last year it would be for quite a while - although I'm not sure why).
I think £220+ is expensive, but then so is a basic iPad at £429. I wonder if I had £500 would I buy 1 x iPad or 2 x 3DS??? Hmmm.
(£190 - conveniently out of stock)
[link url=http://panamoz.com/index.php/nintendo-3ds-console.html?___store=default
]http://panamoz.com/index.php/nintendo-3d...[/link]
(£194.99 - now out of stock for red, black and blue)
[link url=http://www.gamegears.co.uk/ds-dsi-c7/ds-dsi-consoles-c47/nintendo-nintendo-3ds-console-red-p2562?of_tid=P7Pcv8JFwwgzMXI4ETo8vz8PCwbYE8D-1tquflWTVCiQ7CwgWkRmuQcvhbccpQX5
]http://www.gamegears.co.uk/ds-dsi-c7/ds-...[/link]
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Dr. Chee Ming Wong on 20th January 2011 6:05pm