MR Research analyst Billy Pidgeon has called out Nintendo on its $39.99 MSRP average for 3DS titles, stating that games need to be around half that price in order to succeed.
“Nintendo needs to change its business fundamentally,” he said. “With Wii and DS, Nintendo built large installed bases but failed to energize those bases. Selling in hardware is important, but Nintendo must increase attach rates and third party opportunity dramatically.
“Lower 3DS hardware prices only address part of the problem. It’s more important to sell more software as packaged goods and paid digital downloads to each customer who buys a hardware unit. I would like to see Nintendo cut the retail price of packaged software to a range of $20 to $25 for the 3DS. DS software should be $20 or less.”
He also added that Nintendo needs to increase its success with downloadable content, something the eShop has utterly failed to do because it is shit. In any case, there’s no denying that the handheld market is changing, and sticking to the old way is going to lead to failure. I’m crossing my fingers that Sony’s paying attention as well, and will take advantage with the PS Vita. One can dream!
Nintendo needs to improve its software attach rates says Billy Pidgeon. [Videogamer]
