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