GameCube Lessons Drove 3DS Drop

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed another reason why 3DS will see a lower price: The GameCube.

During the Q&A session between investors last week, Iwata noted that the main reason was down to retailers/console userbase. Nintendo's management came together to agree on the price-drop due to lessons learnt with the GameCube - there's a shared feeling that with the company's purple box there was a chance that wasn't taken.

Before Nintendo's extreme success with both the Wii and DS the company had a lukewarm reception, particularly from the teen and young adult market. Eventually a majority of third parties shied away from GameCube development and the system trailed behind the Playstation 2 and Xbox in third place.

Another reason Iwata outline was the current state of the company's finances. The success during this generation with Wii and DS have left the company with a huge wad of money to play with, letting the company take a few more business risks - breaking outside of a previously more rigid approach to hardware.

Via Andriasang