14 DAY TRIAL // One of the analysts watching the video game market has suggested that the launch of the Nintendo 3DS handheld, which will offer players full three dimensional gaming but will not require the use of any specialized and unwieldy glasses, will be a success in the short term, but it will not stop the overall decline of the handheld market.
Michael Pachter, who is working for Wedbush Morgan Securities, has stated on his Gametrailers hosted show that, “The 3DS will prolong the handheld market for the game manufacturers, but ultimately, I think handhelds are in trouble. After the 3DS has had its little rush I think the handhelds will continue to decline.”
The reason for this decline is not a lack of interest in mobile gaming on the part of players but the move to other devices, like the iPod Touch from Apple and other mobiles powered by the Android operating system from Google.
Pachter added, “I think the iPod Touch is going to sell really, really well. I really think as the iPod Touch gets more and more powerful, you’re going to see a lot of free games over there.”
The analyst is also sure that the PlayStation Portable 2, which is widely thought to be in development at Sony and could be announced and launched during 2011, will not make an impact on the handheld market and will be a flop just like the PSP Go device.
Apple devices are interesting to customers because they have more uses than just gaming and because players spend far less on their gaming experiences than on other platforms.
Still, the experiences offered are often shallower and shorter than those offered by full fledged titles released on the Nintendo DS and on the PlayStation Portable, suggesting that a handheld dedicated to gaming will always have a market, albeit a smaller and less profitable one.