Why the 3DS launch was a disaster

Video Description

The Nintendo Switch 2's high price has somewhat shocked and outraged players and fans. But this isn't the first time that Nintendo's consoles have faced backlash due to their price point. In 2011, when Nintendo launched the 3DS, the $250 price was met with lukewarm reactions. 5 months later, Nintendo was forced to reduce the price by almost a third. Here's the story of what happened, and why Nintendo had to choice but to reduce the price of their game console. PATREON - https://patreon.com/ThomasGameDocs BLUESKY - https://thomasgamedocs.bsky.social SOURCES - https://web.archive.org/web/20110107040747/http://www.wiinintendo.net/2010/09/28/nintendo-conference-2010-coverage-3ds-japanese-launch-details-revealed-at-1-am-est-tonight/ Japan 3DS conference blog - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/jan/19/nintendo-3d-console-launch The Guardian price writeup - https://www.eurogamer.net/3ds-price-due-to-e3-reveal-reaction 3DS high price was due to positive reaction at E3 2010 says Iwata - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1VXQL4Gzms 3DS Japanese launch news story - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vIdfwB-Np0 Footage of Japanese launch day - https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2011-01-20/LF9IER1A1I4H01 3DS rocket start, sales goal of 4 million - https://web.archive.org/web/20110310185958/https://www.pcworld.com/article/220875/nintendo_3ds_sells_400000_in_japan_already_r4_hacked.html 400,000 units sold in Japan in 2 days - https://web.archive.org/web/20140518032433/https://www.wired.com/2011/04/nintendo-3ds-sales/ “Nintendo Didn’t Expect 3DS Sales to Drop Like This” - https://www.nintendojo.com/features/round-tables/round-table-3ds-price-drop-reactions Reactions to price drop from current owners - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/nintendo-posts-q1-net-loss-cuts-outlook-2011-07-28 Nintendo 2011 financial loss - https://www.theverge.com/2011/07/28/535421/nintendo-slashes-3ds-price-expected-sales 710,000 3DSes sold, price drop - https://www.ign.com/articles/2011/07/28/3ds-price-cut-analysts-respond Pressure from retailers - https://kotaku.com/nintendo-president-takes-blame-for-3ds-getting-50-perc-5825872 Iwata salary cut - https://techcrunch.com/2011/07/29/nintendo-boss-takes-the-blame-for-3ds-sales-cuts-his-paycheck-in-half/ Further info on salary cut - https://techcrunch.com/2011/08/04/debaser-satoru-iwata-apologizes-for-the-3ds-price-drop/ Iwata apologises for price cut - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/after-big-quarterly-loss-nintendo-slashes-3ds-price - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0cmm4MFHsA 3DS sales increase after price cut - https://www.theregister.com/2011/07/30/nintendo_make_a_loss_on_every_console_sold/ Nintendo making a loss on each 3DS - https://www.geekwire.com/2020/nintendo-3ds-2011-2020-strange-life-quiet-death-potential-end-mobile-gaming-dynasty/ Nintendo discontinuing 3DS in Sept 2020 - https://www.statista.com/statistics/262074/worldwide-sales-of-the-nintendo-3ds-since-2004/ 3DS sales year by year - https://www.digitalspy.com/videogames/wii-u/a348113/wii-u-learned-a-bitter-lesson-from-3ds-launch-says-nintendo/ “We learned a bitter lesson with the launch of the Nintendo 3DS” - Iwata MUSIC Most background music composed, arranged and performed by me. Songs can be heard on my Patreon feed. CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 1:10 2010 2:57 January 2011 4:27 February 2011 4:53 March 2011 6:34 April 2011 7:41 May 2011 8:19 June 2011 9:14 July 2011 13:37 August 2011