News: Iwata on 3DS Price, Takes 50% Pay Cut Page 1

Iwata on 3DS Price, Takes 50% Pay Cut

30.07.2011

Iwata on 3DS Price, Takes 50% Pay Cut on Nintendo gaming news, videos and discussion

Nintendo are to slash the price of the 3DS considerably next month, and company president Satoru Iwata explains why.

Earlier this week the company confirmed a global restructure for the pricing of the new 3D handheld. From Augut the 3DS will be around $169 USD in retailers across North America and cut by around a third in Europe.

As the Nintendo 3DS is a new generation of console and not a simple revision, the company need as wide expansion as possible - and with sales slipping Iwata felt Nintendo needed to "take drastic measures" to get the system back on track towards initial sales expectations.

Despite the console impressing those who have tried it, adoption rates have taken a lot longer than initially expected. Expanding the install base quickly is one of the reasons for the swift markdowns. Another being a bid to remove sales concerns from retailers and to be able to allocate enough sales space for the holiday period.

In short, we have concluded that, for Nintendo 3DS to expand enough to become the successor of Nintendo DS, we have to take a drastic approach.

Iwata and fellow directors have agreed to take a cut in their moneys. Iwata himself will take a 50% paycut, whilst other directors will take a 30% and 20% hit.

We really must recover our financial performance and take Nintendo back into the position in the marketplace where it is well appreciated.

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SirLink 30.07.2011#1

A nice (and probably needed) gesture from Nintendo. I hate how often times the higher-ups in companies that aren't doing so well financially are still reaping their insanely high salaries.

I think this move will pay off greatly for Nintendo. A much higher install base thanks to the cheaper price and crazy-sellers like Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land coming soon means more support from third-party developers and more good (and original) games for all of us.

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jb 30.07.2011#2

Hopefully it'll pick up with the new price - I do like Nintendo UK's approach "It's not a DS, it's a 3DS". With Mario and Mario Kart out, should hopefully pick up by Christmas time. I can imagine a 3DS Mario Kart bundle to try to replicate the success of the DS one!

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Nintendoro (guest) 30.07.2011#3

Good move. They should have waited a little longer before the release of 3ds though. Not so strong games on launch with very little worth downloading from nintendo network means lack of sales. I have 3ds but have nothing to play on it because of high game prices and nothing worth plaing at the moment. I hope this will change soon. Can't wait for MG snake eater 3d, resident evil revelations, luigi's mansion 2... Hurry up Nintendo. And please, bring Wii U out faster to me

Mush 30.07.2011#4

It makes me smile that Nintendo and it's employees had to sacrifice some of their wages in order for the 3DS to get more sales and become known that it is the true successor.

It really shows that Nintendo does care about the future of video games and it's fans by giving the ones who paid full price something back.

I'm glad I still have faith in Nintendo for providing us with top-quality systems and games. It's just the lazy 3rd party devs that make Nintendo look bad.

I just really hope they pull through with this decision, it would be a shame for Nintendo to disappear from the handheld market after being such a HUGE part of it.

( Edited 30.07.2011 18:58 by Mush123 )

Darkflame 30.07.2011#5

This really says more about the difference between Nintendo and, say, any American company then the 3DS specificly.
One takes a pay cut when they mess up, the other gives themselves bonus's...

I just really hope they pull through with this decision, it would be a shame for Nintendo to disappear from the handheld market after being such a HUGE part of it.

Nintendos got money for a few failed consoles yet.
Besides, the 3DS is still only relatively bad in terms of sales, rather then absolutely bad.

( Edited 30.07.2011 23:53 by Darkflame )

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Mush 31.07.2011#6

Darkflame said:
Nintendos got money for a few failed consoles yet.
Besides, the 3DS is still only relatively bad in terms of sales, rather then absolutely bad.

That's pretty true, I guess. The 3DS itself hasn't done too badly. It's just when compared to other console's launch windows, it hasn't quite met the sales expectations.

I'm also glad Nintendo UK have started an advertising campaign convincing consumers that this is in fact the true successor to the DS. This should've been done in the upcoming weeks to the launch of the 3DS, but it's better late than never.

( Edited 31.07.2011 05:28 by Mush123 )

meeto_0 31.07.2011#7

The 3DS was bad in terms of being high in price with not much software and some of the online features missing for too long. Top that of with over priced virtual console games and no wonder why it flopped.

Nintendo should look at companies like google and apple who maintain their dominate position and dont fall asleep at the wheel.

Why rush the product to market if its going to have such a negative effect 5months on? 33% of and massive pay cuts. They became cocky again citing that people will spend a lot of money on popular brands. You still need games!!

PS nintendo, not everyone who buys a nintendo console buys a handheld. Putting very little out on the wii because you have the 3DS is bad customer service.

Stop making so many iterations of your handhelds and your blue ocean market wont get soo confused and thinks its just a DS with 3D. Stop with the generic adds and tell people about the new power and features and show game footage not strangers playing.

PMD 31.07.2011#8

Yeah, Nintendo should follow Apple's lead and release a new portable every year (or if reports are correct, twice a year) in addition to a giant sized portable and a gazillion different music players.

Releasing different versions is NOT the problem. The only difference is that the DS is not forward compatible with 3DS games. The biggest problem is that the price is around double to what Nintendo's other portables released at. That and the games, although I don't think this keeps sales down; it just irritates hardcore gamers who read videogame news every day.

Kudos to Nintendo execs for cutting their pay due to the company loss. Most American CEOs would just fire a bunch of low level employees in order to keep their money, and call it restructuring. By the way, Iwata used to make $2 million so now he makes $1 million.

crackedthesky 01.08.2011#9

Already declaring it a flop? It's been out for what, three months? None of the killer apps have even hit the shelves yet, with the sole exception of Ocarina of Time.

The price drop will help, but once StarFox and the Mario games come out later this year, the 3DS will really kick into gear.

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