Nintendo defies critics again

Mike Bantick
Sunday, 19 April 2009 08:16

Opinion and Analysis

 
So how has the DSi been going in the few weeks on sale globally? (On sale in Japan since Nov 2008, the rest of the world saw it only at the start of April 2009).

Well, a quick glance at the recently released NPD group’s hardware sales for the U.S is a good place to start.  Here are the numbers for March.

* Wii - 601K
* Nintendo DS - 563K

 Nintendo DSi - 435,000 in first week

* Xbox 360 - 330K
* PlayStation 3 - 218K
* PSP - 168K
* PlayStation 2 - 112K

Compared to March 2008 this is an industry slide of 18 percent in hardware sales, with the total industry – including games software – down 17 percent.

But as NPD analyst Anita Frazier says : "While it might be tempting to jump to the conclusion that the sky is starting to fall on the video games industry given this month's results, it's important to remember that two very big things are different this year than last," she said.

"First, Easter fell in March last year whereas it fell in April this year, and last March included the release of Super Smash Bros.: Brawl, which went on to become the fourth best-selling game in 2008."

The DSi has obviously taken over from the DS Lite in many consumer eyes, and in many ways this is simply due to economics. 

The DS Lite has not been granted a price cut as part of the DSi’s release, as such, it looks as if consumers standing at a shop counter, faced with the option of 2005 tech at full price are willing to opt for 2008 tech at the 25 percent premium.

Shrewd of Nintendo, and shows that the pricing policy adopted by the gaming giant is usually justified by sales.

The only place where Nintendo may need to address its price policy may be in homeland Japan. 

Last weeks Media Connect sales figures show the decline across the board for gaming hardware, but in particular highlight the continuing fall of the Wii.

* PSP - 40,886
* DSi - 40,673
* PlayStation 3 - 16,701
* Wii - 13,349
* Xbox 360 - 10,134
* Nintendo DS Lite - 6,869
* PlayStation 2 - 4,531

 Surely, if the Wii was to dip below Xbox 360 sales – traditionally poor in Japan - Nintendo would need to reconsider the retail price.