Nintendo’s latest handheld hasn’t gone quite as planned, with last week’s price drop announcement causing ripples in the customer base this week. The announcement saw sales fall to 16,415 units sold that week compared to 31,826 sales the previous week.
The days following the announcement made up the largest part of the decline and Nintendo’s not out of the woods yet, with sales expected to continue dropping even after the price of the 3DS is finally cut.
Back in Japan, the underdog star of the handheld market, Sony’s PSP, remains on the top spot of the handheld gaming race, shifting another 36,000 units this week, up 10,000 units from the previous week.
Past Nintendo handhelds saw an average week, with the DSi XL moving 5267 units, the regular size DSi selling 4625 and the old fashioned DS just 138 units in the last week.
The console market in Japan is also still firmly under control of Sony, with the PS3 dominating with 20,704 units sold over the Wii’s 18,232 and Microsoft’s Xbox just 1616.
Nintendo’s strategy hasn’t yet paid off, but analysts still remain hopeful that the console will attract more sales in the middle period of its lifespan.
Sony’s PS Vita handheld console is not due to reach the Europe and the US until early next year, read all about it here.