As you all know that the 3DS launch was rocky.
I'm here to discus an explanation that has nothing to do with the price.
As we know the 3DS sales slumped after it's launch prompting Nintendo to drop it's price yet I believe that it should have sold well without the price drop.

First of all I give examples of pricing difference of DS DSi & 3DS launch.

USD
DS $149.99
DSi $169.99
3DS $249.99

YEN
DS ¥15,000
DSi ¥18,900
3DS ¥25,000

AUD
DS $199.95
DSi $299.95
3DS $249.95

Onwards I shall us the USD pricing as examples.
The DSi is only $20 more that the DS yet the 3DS is $80 more than the DSi's launch price, as in basically 4 times the pricing difference.
It may seems a bit much especially if you think of the 3DS launch price being $100 more than the DS yet if you take in the context of hardware differences.

The only real difference in the DSi that can increase the cost is the hardware to work with the download storage (i.e. storage & SD card slot) & a pair of face training level of cameras other than that there's no real difference that from a regular DS.

yet the 3DS on the other hand is an entire new system thats more powerful CPU's also it has a full on graphics accelerator instead of relying purely on CPU for graphics plus higher resolution displays with the top screen having the addition of being a 3D parallax display.

Now on to explain the reason why the 3DS's sales slump.

After 4 years that the DS launch that the DSi launched & the consumers thinking thats it's an entire new system with the idea of having smaller titles to download & being somewhat mislead (unintentionally) by the media that's it's twice as powerful then only a couple years down the track a new system arrive
the 3DS actually showing that's it's more than the DS line & it's only released shortly after the DSi compared & with it's showing off how powerful it's is proving that's its more powerful as compare to the DS with nothing showing for it's extra power that they supposedly promise

[u]Now for the real reason why[/u]
The real reason is that the consumer thought they were getting an entire new system yet when the 3DS is revealed it showed them that's not really the case.
as the 3DSwas in development before the DSi was conceived & it's shows it as how much more effort it showed that's been put in it as compared to the DSi.

Plus after a couple years there's no software at all showing any sing of faster processors that the consumers thought that were getting with the DSi so they consumer feelign cheated on when they see improved graphics of the 3DS gameplay footage.

So to made a long answer shot, Why bother Trusting Nintendo with the 3DS when after all the DSi wasn't really worth the upgrade.

So if Nintendo havn't bothered developing the DSi & able to time freed up to use the then Project Café & get it released sooner then Nintendo didn't need to lose out by having to price cut the 3DS.

The DSi was ever marketed as a new console?

Well that's new to me. I always saw it as a "nice upgrade". Kinda like the PSPgo to the PSP.

I think the DSi may have upstaged the 3DS, but for me it has more to do with the quality of the DSi itself. Personally I like the DSi quite a lot; it's the most comfortable console that I own due to it being light weight and made of resilient material that rarely shows grime.

Therefore my perspective is a bit different in that I think the DSi was a high quality worthwhile upgrade. It was at least able to pioneer the concept of downloading games to a handheld system, which likely hooked some consumers on the idea.

In the end Nintendo (again) failed to communicate the value of their product, the launch titles were lackluster and the onboard software was more silly than compelling (Nintendo Video, come on).

Nah, the lack of games killed it. Once the games came out, the 3DS started selling - and now its fine.

For me it was the lack of games...they should have waited until at least Ocarina 3D was released. Or maybe Star Fox, then again I never bothered with that game anyways, so...yeah...OoT 3D, lol.

While a worthy feature let it been better off waited for the 3DS instead of just shoehorning it into the DS hardware & they got an entire generating to sell that idea that the remader of the previous generation.

But then we wouldn't have DSiWare.

DSiWare is awesome.

^ This. Hardware is only as good as its software.

And quite frankly I think this is the same problem that the Wii U is having now. And once the games come out for that it will be fine.

Well the 3DS has the 3DSWare which is pretty much the same thing really.

@KawaiiPikachu - This may be hard to believe, but when the 3DS launched in Australia, it actually cost $350! I remember getting my 3DS at THAT price in June! Now they're usually around the $200 mark here but they used to be so much!
And when you consider that the $AU is very similar to the $US, you can see a reason why it wasn't very popular!

I got a DSi on launch, and I was really disappointed. I expected awesome games for download of the DSi shop. 3DS actually made me look forward to getting another DS again. I eventually got a 3DS online for $120 that hadn't claimed the ambassador games, and claimed them myself. I got the 3DS XL the day it came out, and immediately transferred.
I think releasing the releasing the DSi so close to 3DS is what killed it for alot of people, but the price was kind of expensive when their main audience is 6-16 or so. It did make it look very valuable at that high price though, which made me want it honestly.

I think that having the two launch so close together has something to do with it, but not necessarily from a customer loyalty perspective. After spending $170 on the DSi most people won't be too keen on forking over another $250. Their marketing campaign sure didn't help much either, its hard enough to sell people on a 3D handheld with 2D images let alone when 3D isn't all to popular to begin with.

Most parents won't be too keen on leaving a $250 piece of tech in the hands of a young child either, then again I've seen plenty of kids playing on their parents phones despite how much their worth so what do I know. Unlike today's handhelds not only were gameboys considered toys but they were relatively cheap and built like a brick.

nah this thread is kinda pointless for me.

the dsi was never marketed as a new system and i dont know anybody who thought it would be a new system.
the 3DS sold so "bad", because of it's high price and no killerapp at launch

Wait... People are still complaining about the 3DS launch!?

I think 3DS killed itself.

Nintendo handhelds where always about being cheap for children, they rather used less advanced technology (i.e. no backlight) than drive up the price. Why did they drift away from this idea ?

The problem with the 3DS is that it does NOT have a target group.

For casual players nothing changed with the coming of the 3DS. If you like Brain Training there’s absolutely no reason to buy a 3DS.. instead buy a DSi XL for much cheaper (nice big screen, some packaged even came with ‘A little bit… Brain Training’ installed).

For hardcore players it’s also not really suited. Because of the 3D effect your GPU power gets cut in half (less polygons,effects,etc) your frame-rate gets cut in half to 30 FPS (60 in total, 30 for right,30 for left eye). And you don’t have full console-like controls (missing a extra circle-pad).

The biggest problem however is that developers cannot really use the unique feature of the 3DS.
I mean less 3D power wouldn’t be a problem if there were some really innovating titles that had their core-gameplay using the 3D screen primary.

However, most users dislike the 3D-effect for a long period.. so most of them turn it off. Meaning that if you would require the 3D effect you basically force people to use it. So now developers are stuck making games that could have been done (and are done) better on other systems.

The 3DS is great in graphics & gameplay certain games have defently proved it over & over again that the system & games are well worth looking into. The problem is finding which games those are per-say as opposed to picking the games that are crap at a whim of a chance. The only real thing that hurt the 3DS at launch was barely any games to choose from. Like when I got my 3DS I play Nintendo Dogs + cats - 3ds & Spongebob Squigglepants - 3ds because there was nothing else that interested me at all in the other launch line up games.

The games that came out in 2012 at least in my opinion were pretty great. We got Style Savvy, New Super Mario Bros 2, Angry Birds, Imagine Babyz, Paper Mario, etc.

The 3DS is gonna get better. Plus Harmo Knight, Luigi's Mansion 2/dark moon - 3ds, & Animal Crossing 3ds are coming out this year granted I think animal crossing should have come out earlier for the 3ds. But were still getting the game. If those don't pull nintendo out of the water. I don't know what would when two of those games are most anticpated games.

As for the dsi I liked the camera feature on it but was not that impressed with the dsiware literally week after week with my dsi when I was still playing kept thinking ok something really good is going to come out & kept my hopes high for a while & would normally try the 2 dollars games sometimes more some were good & some were just plan bad/sad as a game. Hense forth impressed with the 3ds as a system with in its self with alot of the stuff it can do. Just needs time with the games coming out.

Happy Gaming! (^_^)

@HugoSmits
Meh. 3D, graphics, and the apps were supposed to be the main sell point. I've been playing DS since it started, and I've always looked forward to the new features each one brings. DSi was a disappointment to me right from the get go, because it only offered a little more than DS Lite, when I expected huge and complex games from the DSi Shop.
The only ones that were satisfied with the system, were probably newcomers to DS in general. GBA wasn't a key selling point anymore, digital was picking up, and all in one devices were more popular.
People don't like having 2 coexistent platforms. When one supports all the old stuff, plus has way more features for your money, you're gonna try and get the best one available.
I know parents that will buy their kids a DSi because it's cheaper, but that parent could have easily went the extra mile and gotten their kid a 3DS by waiting or saving, and if they really cared, they would have researched it more, and realized they should get a 3DS, if any DS at all.
Saying it wasn't for hardcore isn't true in my case. That made it more hardcore to me. The 3DS uses just as advanced 3D effects as 3D HDTVs, for at the time was $1000's less, just at a lower resolution and scale. 3D was a key selling point, and the capability is good enough to be relevant.
I haven't seen PS Vita do anything better than 3DS as of yet, because there are no direct comparisons. Yes the graphics are good, and it can do 'more' in alot of peoples' opinions, but whether they use those features, and are actually done well is the difference.

@SCAR392
I don’t think 3D is a relevant selling point. I mean, 3D in general has failed. Just look at sales of 3D TV’s or 3D movies in cinema’s (over here the cinema’s completely dropped it).

The main difference between PS Vita and 3DS is that PS Vita actually offers console-quality gaming experience. Or should I say is capable of doing that (because of course there are bad games too).

The controls and graphical power are the same as Playstation 3.

And that’s the problem I have with the 3DS, it sacrificed almost everything for the 3D effect. We have not yet seen any unique games that evolve around the 3D effect, and in fact most people I know of tend to turn of the 3D effect because it hurts their eyes.

Take Super Street Fighter for example. I’m a huge fighting game nut..

It works on the 3DS. It’s done pretty well and I was impressed when it was originally announced.

Then came the PS Vita, and suddenly I could play the game exactly like I would on a console. Same control scheme, same graphics and best of all; same frame rate! After experiencing that, it’s almost impossible to go back to the 3DS version.

I love 3DS because of the Nintendo games. They are brilliant. But for any third party game I would suggest to play it on a different system like the PS Vita if possible.

The Vita has been a complete failure thus far in terms of sales. I really respect the design of the handheld, so my speculation is simple, none of the games are attracting people.

Third-party games haven't been doing well on either console, and my guess? The people say "Oh, I can just play Angry Birds on my iPhone. Why bother?" Nintendo games save the 3DS, but what for the Vita? The hardcore that do get the difference... I don't know about them.

yeah.. that's totally true. Vita is a big failure. And I honestly don't know why ? is it the price ? is it because PSP did bad aswell ?
I'm not sure if it's really Angry Birds... I don't know any hardcore gamer that is satisfied with only those little games.