What the 3DS Price Drop Means for Us

Simply put, when I heard the news about the 3DS massive price-drop, I was got pretty pissed off about the whole thing. It's a fairly understandable reaction: Nintendo of America basically told their core consumers to "bugger off" for the second time this summer.

So I did some research: surely, I thought, there must be some way for me to recoup the $70 USD I lost by buying a 3DS in the later days of June.

But, as it turns out, there's nothing to be done. As asinine as Nintendo's attitude may be, and as pisspoor as their relationship with their customers has become, the price drop of the 3DS (so soon, to boot) was more than an inevitability: it was an utter necessity.

Here's the deal:

Well... we all know gaming stuff depreciates absurdly fast. The 3DS is no exception. If you were to sell a 3DS on ebay, you'd be lucky to get $180 for it. If you included a case, some downloaded games, you MIGHT get $190 or $200 for it.

But then you'd have to give $9% of that to ebay. So if you manage to sell one for $200 (and yeah, shipping is included in all of this) you'd have to give eBay $18. So you would only get $182 at most, if you're lucky, but more likely around $163.20.

Use paypal, they'll take at least 1.9% (plus $0.30) of whatever you get. So if you sold it for $200, you'd only end up with $147.12. That's the MOST you could get. As I said, the $180 selling price would be most likely--and that would only leave you with $131.89. So, basically, the current "real" value of a 3DS to the consumer is only a meager $130, which is basically half of the initial MSRP.

There's no denying that value is awful.

So there's no way to try and recoup the loss. Part of the reason why the 3DS price is dropping to begin with is because of poor sales, yes, but another part of it is how MUCH the hardware has depreciated since launch, coupled with the fact that the market is currently saturated with used copies. There are currently, for example, over 400 separate listings for 3DS systems on eBay right now.

So, yeah, for all of us early-adopters, for all of us Nintendo-loyals, this is a second giant "**** You!" from Nintendo of America in the past month or two... but unlike Operation Rainfall, there's really nothing we can do about it. Right now, Nintendo is trying to get out of a corner they've been forced into by the 3DS's poor launch and lackluster library of games. The 3DS needs to be priced to compete with not only the existing DSi systems, but also the massive number of used 3DSs on the market.

The only thing left to consider is what this may mean for the future: with the 3DS depreciating so rapidly, with 3rd party support already draining, and with Nintendo trying to slog through a summer filled with nothing but negative press, the future of this tiny handheld--and the giant corporation that spawned it--may very much be in doubt.

[SilentNegotiator]

A kick in the balls for all of the early adapters, and Nintendo having a chance at keeping their 70%-ish hold on the handheld market. That's what it means.

They didn't have a choice; if their competitor was anywhere near as close in price, they wouldn't keep anywhere near as much of a marketshare of the handheld console race.

I can't believe they brought it down SO MUCH, though. I would have figured a $50 drop to $200 or something. But they brought it down to $170?? Nintendo isn't prepared to have their price be within a distance to poke the Vita with a 20 foot pole.

[CaptainMarvelQ8]

http://www.wired.com/gameli...

No,it is not a kick.all of you guys don't know that nintendo is giving away 10 games for the early buyers of the handheld

[SilentNegotiator]

A bunch of 10-20 year old games? THANKS, Nintendo! We're square for you dropping the price by a 1/3 in 5 months now!

Pfft. No. Nintendo still brought the hardcore Nintendo fanatics - that went out to buy a system whose only good games were SSFIV and a remake of a decade-old N64 game - to their knees as they held their bruised crotches. Seriously, they bought a 3DS in its....what's the opposite of the word 'prime'?....and got screwed the hardest.

[kramun]

What's your opinion of the psp go SilentNegotiator? Did the people that bought that get screwed?

How about the people who bought a launch ps3? What was the lineup like for that?

I waited years until I got a ps3 because it was too expensive and it didn't have a decent games libary for a long time.

But hey, let's forget about that.

[f789790]

If I wanted to play those games I would play them on my laptop or on my psp (hacked). I want to play modern games on modern systems.

I knew Nintendo would be doing a price drop after the Vita was announced at $250 but I'm shocked they slashed the price by 32%.

[-Alpha]

Early adopters get 20 games. I don't see the issue, early adopters always run the risk of getting screwed when they adopt early.

[thelogicking]

I can't say how people disagree with you.
You get 20 free games for early adopter and I think that is good enough

[Lyr1c]

20 games is a generous amount...and I THINK, that I heard you get 10 GBA games on top of that.

I think that it's pretty reasonable for the $80 pricecut. It's a way for Nintendo to show appreciation to the 3DS' early adopters. Of course they could have "done more", but you could say that for everything. Every 3DS owner prior to August 12th, 2011 could have received an $80 check in the mail, and people would still complain.

[Ingram]

I'm sorry to say this, but you're the only one to blame for buying overpriced hardware.And I don't mean "overpriced" as the insult 360 owners used to lay on PS3, I mean REALLY overpriced as in, hardware/value/price ratio.

IMHO, supporting Nintendo this generations is a capital sin in itself, I still don't get how some can...I take you were impressed by the Wii-U E3 demos too? I hope not.

Well, enjoy your 3DS, and sorry about losing 70, but you asked for it and totally deserved it, in the same way Nintendo did not deserve our money yet.

[thelogicking]

So 600$ is not overpriced???
And no... A lot of playstation fans got pissed at this price and not only xbox fans jokes!

Gosh. Some people thinks that Sony can do now wrong!

[news4geeks]

Not overpriced, just very expensive. In terms of the value of the console $600 was fair enough. Sony actually sold it for a loss. Vaistrat even made this clear when pointing out value to price ratio so I don't know why you brought this up. Perhaps you are looking for trouble.

I think it was reported that Nintendo will be taking a loss at the new price point. $170 does seem like good value for the 3DS. They are even cutting the price by 40% in Japan. That gives you an idea of how overpriced it was. Other than the 3D, the 3DS is very dated technology.

[Otheros00]

Where's your logic thelogicking? Things that sell for a loss are not overpriced. Overpriced are things that sold at a profit like the wii, 3ds, ipad, ipod, ipod touch, and iphone.

[Lyr1c]

From a completely objective standing, I recently looked at the Wii's library, and I really don't get the hatred for the console. The Wii has quite a big number of quality titles (exclusive to say the least), they just don't get nearly as much publicity as the games on the PS3/360/PC. While the PS3/360/PC platforms are known for gritty, realistic battlefields, the Wii takes a more colorful approach.

Games like Zack & Wiki, Muramasa, LostWinds, and even Monster Hunter: Tri and Sonic Colors get looked over all the time. When it comes to the Wii, owners actually have to SEARCH for games, since they're not constantly thrown into our face like on other platforms. In that sense, Wii owners can be more hardcore than the rest of us.

[Ingram]

lol, by the way, mr."completely objective" only HDMI present in PS360 supports features like Deep color, X.V.color (24/48 bit color) and such, so guess what consoles are more "colorful".And this is not an opinion, this is indeed objective.

[Ingram]

@[thelogicking](prrf...) PS3 was sold at a LOSS since the beggining until recent years, Cell & Bluray cost was ultra high at first because no one gave 2 cents for them except Sony.3DS is sold way over its HW component price, hence making financially possible such fast and big reduction in the end price.Deal with it it, those of you who bought a 3DS at 249 were SCAMMED.For god's sake, vita's hardware is almost 4 times as powerful and costs 249.No brainer.

@[Lyric] That's absurd, there's much, much less shovelware and tons of colourful non gritty games on PS360, all kind of games.Valkyria chronicles, Disgaea,Katamari, a long etc, most interesting Wii games are multiplatform, have a port for the bigger consoles, but it does not work the other way around, because the wii is severely underpowered!.I would buy one, yeah, for Mad World, Metroid, but mainly for homebrew & emulators, since its greatest assets are size and TDP.

[thebudgetgamer]

less money equals more gooder.

[bunfighterii]

so what does this mean for Vita? i dare say it's pricing was to some degree determined to by the 3DS for competitive reasons

[Canary]

It will probably mean nothing. I can't see Sony backpedaling on Vita's price point.

Though, arguably, Vita was priced to be more appealing than the 3DS, so they really ought to rethink it. $145 for wifi, $190 for 3G would be just about perfect, but by the time that happens the 3DS will be selling for $120.

[Kee]

It means I'm gonna go get a 3DS. :)

[blackburn10]

It means as per usual Nintendo can do no wrong. Sell you the 3DS for an expensive price and drop it in a panic a 5 months later and they are geniuses. If Sony did this with VITA they would be crucified. But Nintendo gets a handshake. Now we don't even know if a 3DS is better then a VITA, just that its cheaper.

[Rrobba]

It means we can buy the 3DS for cheaper :)