3DS Price Cut Helps Machine to Huge Sales Hike in Japan

It can only get better from here.

Supposedly those figures count for the 4 days with the price cut and 3 days before.

See everybody? It'll be okay. Nintendo isn't going anywhere.
They had a rocky start but looks like they're back on track now.

Let's hope so! people knew until the price drop happened the system is too expensive. I'm looking forward to my free games, thank you Nintendo. Oh I put my system on line when the 3DS shop became available with Mario Land, that makes me an ambassador?

Just think of it: 250€, for just then 10€ more you could get an iPod Touch with 32 Gigs. Not that it would compare to a 3DS in gaming, but Apple is a bigger brand. And for even less money you could get an Xbox 360 with lots of big games already available. With only 180€ it is now far more argueable to buy one.

I got mine at the release btw.

I'm interested to see if the US sales do the same soon. Be nice to get some more streetpass hits, too.

Now all we need is for 3rd Parties to commit to develop more titles for the 3DS.

@Pj1, as you'll have connected to the eShop to purchase Mario Land then you'll automatically become an ambassador.

That's just the good news I need to hear. Well done Nintendo.

it makes me happy to see nintendo back to normal.

Good to hear some good news for a change. I'm getting tired of this 3DS doom and gloom. With the price cut, the AAA Nintendo games coming and the holiday season, come Feb of next year the 3DS will be in awesome shape. Then we can start with the Vita doom and gloom predictions, lol.

let's hope it stays like this.

With Christmas fast approaching & the releases of Starfox, Mario Land & Mario Kart 7, expect to see 3DS sales rocketing at this new lower price & no PS Vita until 2012, Nintendo 3DS is going to be a massive by the end of the year.

this price cute now makes the vita the more expensive one giving nintendo a better advantage this generation.

great job nintendo

Let me start off by saying that I have a 3DS and it's a decent portable but for some reason I just can't back it the way I have other Nintendo hardwares in the past. I honestly feel Nintendo didn't do everything it needed to to endure the portable market. The form factor and lack of g3/g4 connectivity make the 3DS appear archaic in the eyes of the average consumer, who are already deeply involved in smart phone/tablet gaming for thier portable needs. I have very fond memories of all of Nintendo's portable gaming devices but the 3DS, other than it's nifty 3D screen, (of which smart phones have started adopting also) has done nothing to become a "must own" device. $40 for games isn't doing it any favors either.

3ds ratio, game software sold/console is only 1,72, Wii is 7.87 and PS3 is 7.86. The price of two 3ds games is more than half of the value of the console. Thats very expensive. Ofcourse its still the start of 3ds lifecycle and not many good games are out but still the price of the software need a pricecut as well.

@dimi
How is $80 more than half of $180?

I can see the numbers getting better than this but yeah. Sales won't really pick up until late October/early November.

Edit: Still, it'll be WAY better than it's been these last two months.

Smart move Nintendo, Smart move.

There are a lot of games I am interested in, but the problem becomes they are all released during the holiday season, when no one has any money. Luigi's Mansion 2 is listed as an early January release.

Nintendo would have been smart to move the release date of either MarioKart or Mario Land 3D to coincide with the price drop. The should really release one big name title per month, not flood the market as sales will not be as great when people have to choose from several.

Next week's sales will tell the tale. This week's had the Ambassador Program inflating numbers.

Listen up Nintendo!! All you need to do now to have just as positive reaction to the price cut as it Japan is to show a commercial hyping it up on TV!! I STILL can't believe I saw an ad for the DS Lite's price cut but I STILL haven't seen any for the 3DS which is WAY over due and another reason it sold poorly!! Most causal gamers I know doesn't even know what the 3DS is and the ones who do think it's just a crappy new DS model like the DSi or DSXL when it's really a whole new system.

I find it hilarious that people were claiming that the 3DS was doomed because of the price cut.

Now to fix the software issue and horrible digital store.

..Okay okay, we all know they'll just fix the software issue...maybe.

Great news!
And 3DS will do even better during the holiday shopping season!

@NINTENBOY: There are actually two commercials now featuring the price drop. Perhaps you need to watch more TV

@Hardy83 nobody builds their own downloadable games anymore. It's the 3rd parties' job.

Nintendo is going to have to "work for the rest of their lives", so to speak. There were times when they could release a device and then relax for a bit. Those days are gone. They are going to have to think about every move they make and take smartphone gaming dead seriously. It appears that they are doing just that, but perhaps they could be doing more. I am sure they have some good things up their sleeve... they need music capabilities, an app that BOOSTS THE VOLUME TO A DECENT LEVEL (reading this, Nintendo?), and more for video than just Netflix and Nintendo video. Obviously they can't currently offer real phone service, but they need to at least have their fingers jammed seriously into other services and apps.

@Minny: Nintendo doesn't just release games, they have to make them too.

Heavy Weapons Guy: Move machine sales UP!

@Anotheralex_x In my country at least there are games for 51 euro..so 102 euro are more than half of the current price of 3ds.

@knuks I agree who the heck honestly think nintendo was in trouble

Don't forget, people, with every 3DS sold, Nintendo loses 5-10 dollars. So high console sales is just the first step. With all the AAA titles coming to VC and retail, the 3DS needs to sell enough software to make up for the miniscule amount lost on every 3DS. I geuss what i'm trying to say is: This is only step 1, sales and line-up will get better, making up for nintendo's loss and hardware.

To all Nintendo doom sayers: I TOLD YOU SO! Sry, couldn't resist

Anyway, lower price, more good games coming up...the future looks bright for the 3DS now. Still needs a few more adjustments (better e-shop, youtube app and/or enhanced internet browser), but I'm sure it'll do just fine

Okay, I'm tempted to get a 3DS now that there is a price drop, but there's one problem. I just recently got a DSi (by recent I mean November 2009), and I feel that buying a 3DS would be pointless because it does basically everything a DSi does. And no, I'm not an idiot who just thinks it's a DS with 3D. I know that there are many good games coming out for it that I am interested in (Paper Mario and Super MArio 3D Land), but besides those there's not much.

I know that Nintendolife just published a guide about good games coming out before SM3L, but none of those interested me. Unless I see definitive software that I would love, I don't see a reason to buy it while I'm still getting good mileage off of my DSi. Plus, for the 3DSware and Virtual console, there are no good 3DSware games out yet, and the Virtual console has games that I can just buy off of amazon (I prefer having a cart in my hand anyway). So I'm extremly on the fence for this, and I'm afraid that I most likely will not get one

No reason to explain your self @Crystalking18 You don't want to buy it. That means you don't want to buy it. It's not like everyone was depending on you buying it or something.

I think it's just a simple spike like we saw when the machine launched and I suspect sales are going to drop off rather rapidly again and return to pretty low numbers.

I just don't think the 3DS is that attractive a value proposition in the current market of smart phones and tablets.

I actually got a Streetpass in my 2nd floor apartment today. That never happened before the price drop. More people in my area must be buying 3DS's!

What nobody here seems to even think about is this: How many of these 3DS's were sold on the basis of getting into the Ambassador Program? The real results will be seen in next months sales figures.

Japan had a massive surge in their used 3DS market immediately after the news of the Ambassador Program, and I wonder how many of these number are based on that and/or if they were even factored into it, because there could actually have been allot more sales than these numbers show as well. 20 Free Games will sell systems very quickly, so we will see if these numbers hold up next month. Hopefully so.

We can probably expect this number to majorly rise over the holiday season, yes.

Back on track. That's what I like to hear! Now wait for the holiday sales. This is turning out to be a successful system.

Alright nintendo way to get back on track i cant wait for Super mario 3d land

@Crystalking18
No one's forcing you to get it right now.
Honestly, once you said "I just bought a DSi", I already understood.

Go pick one up once there's at least 10 titles you want from it that are out.

Oh my God! My Microeconomics teacher was right!

I'd bet these next couple weeks of sales represent a backlog of people who wanted a 3ds but couldn't justify the price. Sales won't maintain this weekly number without new good games, but it'll still be better than it was before.

It is good that the cut has paid off.

On another note: I got a email from Nintendo of Australia today telling me that the 3DS has been reduced in price. Thanks for the timely information NoA

happy to hear so I just got my 3ds and it's awseome with a capital A.
and I didn't even buy any games yet.

I just picked up a new 3DS at Gamestop for 99 usd [with trade in] and I don't even like the 3DS!
I figured at that price it will make for a good trade in value when Nintendo releases there 3DS XL sometime next year,

btw - why create a special estore just for the 3DS if you are not going to offer actual software that supports the 3D screen?

@Rapadash6: Ugh... I HATE the idea of ipad and tablet games controlling the handheld market!!!!!!