3DS is the fourth generation portable game console launched by Nintendo in 2011. It is a follow-up model of Nintendo DS. DS has become a legend in the company's computer history. Although 3DS, including 2ds, cannot reach the same height as DS, it has also made considerable achievements by the end of its career.
America Nintendo Former president Reggie fields Amy recalled in his book "subversive game: from the Bronx to the top of Nintendo" that before the release of 3DS, due to the limited release lineup and market conditions, he repeatedly suggested reducing the starting price from US $249.99 to US $199.99 (Note: the starting price of switch Lite in 2019 was US $199.99 and that of PSV in 2012 was US $249.99) 。 However, his proposal was rejected, one of the reasons was that the manufacturing cost of the handheld was relatively high at that time, which provided an intermediate price, but Reggie still wanted to keep the price at about $200, explaining that this was a strategy for Western retail practice.
However, after the strong performance of 3DS in the first month, sales fell sharply. As Reggie puts it in his book, this puts great pressure on the company. It was explained that in some areas, Nintendo was asked to recover a large amount of unsold inventory, which was disastrous at that time. It was this that led to a sharp drop in the price of the handheld in the months after its launch to a certain extent.
Reggie said that when he finally made a clear plan to reduce the price to $169 in the United States, he advocated providing incentives and compensation to customers who bought at the original price in the early stage. For example, for users who bought 3DS for the first time, ten nes and ten GBA games were provided on their handheld.
This also prompted Reggie to redouble his efforts to share Western views more closely with decision makers in Kyoto headquarters and encourage western executives to improve their sense of presence in NCL. Finally, this decision was implemented by jundao, who succeeded Iwata as CEO of the company. Although Reggie and Iwata have never reached an agreement on the starting price of 3DS, he believes that reducing the price is the best solution to deal with the severe situation.
