14 DAY TRIAL // Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime once again highlighted some of the key mistakes made when the recent Nintendo 3DS was released, including the distinct lack of high quality first-party games and the missing eShop online store.
The Nintendo 3DS is seeing massive amounts of publicity, largely because the Japanese company announced that a price cut will enter in effect today, taking the original price of $249.99 down to $169.99.
This cut, coupled with the promise of high quality games, both retail ones like Super Mario 3D Land, and downloadable titles like Super Mario Bros., and even a new color, in the form of 'Flame Red', will make the 3DS irresistible, according to Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime.
The executive admitted, however, that several mistakes affected the launch of the 3DS earlier this year, killing off the momentum of the console and making it dead in the water.
"We needed to have key franchises and stronger first-party titles," he told USA Today. "Certainly, we needed to have stronger support at the launch from a first-party perspective and maybe have some of these key first-party titles earlier in the launch window in order to get the system selling stronger at the start and, ongoing, drive momentum."
The eShop online store, which was delayed until months after the console's official release, also affected the success, as it could have offered a simpler way to get new games and experiences for the 3DS owners.
"We've seen very positive reaction to the digital offerings but it needed to be much sooner in the launch window. As a result that created a situation where the momentum wasn't sustained. And that's why we have now had to go back and reduce the price and reduce the price by a large amount in order to make sure we have stronger momentum beginning on Friday and powering through," said Fils-Aime.
This lack of momentum affected Nintendo's relationships with retailers and third-party companies like publishers or developers, as many avoided the 3DS platform because of its lower than anticipated sales and high price.
Now, however, Fils-Aime is confident that everything has been solved and customers will flock to buy the cheaper 3DS.