From April to June, Nintendo Only Sold 700,000 3DS Consoles

Not surprised at all...

That's because of the high price tag and the bad launch-titles.

Well, due to the upcoming games, free e-shop games and massive price drop, I would assume this would boost sales massively.

Ouch, this is hard for me to see. It's a great system, but we all have known from the get-go that the price just wasn't right. Even as a major fan of Nintendo, I was kind of outraged at how much cash I had to drop on my 3DS. Couple that with the fact that the 3D content is only just now beginning to do more than just barely trickle in and I can see why the system has had a hard launch. Nintendo seems to be moving in the right direction to sell these things now, though, with the more appropriate price and concrete release dates on a lot of high profile games just around the corner.

I didn't like the 3DS price at first, but I bought it anyways, but seeing this makes me surprised. But now I'm sure with everything that's been announced, Nintendo will be going places

Nintendo got complacent. Nintendo got greedy. Nintendo got lazy. All of these factors led to the 3DS. I don't expect sales to change for a long time, because there is nothing new that will be coming out for a long time that the mainstream really wants. Nevermind marketing for it has been terrible.

The price drops are no surprise. Even at $200 I can't justify a purchase as there is still nothing I want to play on it that I haven't already played before.

It eats money?

That is shockingly bad. I think.

Wow.

I think the DS was doing this bad early in its life, too.

Ouch! Good thing the price drop is coming, hopefully that will speed up the sales.

That's what you get for making the new Pokémon a slightly underwhelming DS game instead of a 3DS launch title.

I wonder if the DSi systems will also get a price drop, or if they'll keep them the same to make the 3DS the better deal. I always had a feeling they could still make a profit if they dropped the price by $50, but I wasn't expecting this big of a price drop.

At its original price, the 3DS was out of reach for most people and wasn't really a good value, especially with the low amount of quality content currently available other than DS games. I love my 3DS (got one after doing some extra work after the school year ended), but all the cancellations were starting to get to me.

Now if someone would just figure out that $39.99 really is too much for portable games unless they are AAA titles with tons of content, we would be all set....

Mwahahahahaha!!!!

...yeah, not really surprised by this. The console was overpriced, and has too few must-buy games. The price drop and fall games will help that issue.

Anyone know how this compares to the original DS's release?

Profound let-down.

and thus begins the fall of Nintendos 2nd 3D system. Not due to headaches, but the marketing of it's company. lol JK

I still like you my little Aqua blue 3DS

What this story forgets to report is that in addition to the 700,000 sold April to June, 3.6 MILLION were sold in the 'first two months of launch'.

In other words, 4.3 million total sales since launch. Virtual Boy only managed 700,000 in total so its hardly the same sales flop as the VB was!

Its no surprise that sales have dropped dramatically, no big name games were available except Streetfighter in the launch 3-months (even now all we have is Zelda and RE:Mercenaries).

If they released Super Mario 3D Land or Mario Kart 7 at launch it would've been a different story...but NO, give us PilotWings Resort Nintendo.

I'm not surprised by these numbers.

@20 That's true, people don't seem to realize that it's not including the launch sales.

Also, I find this is hardly a fair comparison. The original DS had the holiday season supporting it in two different regions during that same time period. The numbers are definitely skewed.

Not good, I personally think they should have advertised more. No one at my school knew what a 3DS was, even after it came out.

It's a shame couldn't sell enough 3DS units to sustain themselves. I hope this price cut does spell hope for the company.

I wonder if Nintendo also plans on launching the Wii U this holiday season though...

No surprises here but that is what you get when you overprice your console. At least now Nintendo is learning from it's mistakes and selling it at the correct price.

Yeah we just have to hope that the price drop and the amazing first-party games coming this holiday will inject some new life into the system's sales. I think it will.

I'll be honest. The way things are falling apart for Nintendo, I'm genuinely worried about a time in the not-too-distant future when we're playing Super Mario Galaxy 3 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720.

Hard to imagine? It was hard to imagine Sega leaving the console business too. But, it happened.

And these are the worst economic times worldwide that have been seen in I don't know when. Everything and everybody's up for grabs right now. That includes Nintendo. There is just not much money out there for game systems and games. Price of everything going up, salaries stagnate or declining. Computers replacing human jobs every day.... I read a story that McDonalds is starting to replace cashiers with touch screens to take orders. And if they can do it, they'll have more machinery replace cooks! So, even McJobs are going by the wayside. Not much money for anything except basic survival, let alone games.

Difference is, as people mentioned before, Sega had BAD business people. They did things far worse than what Nintendo is currently doing now. Sega Dreamcast was supposed to save them, but it was too late to repair the damage done. Nintendo is in good shape- if not, better now that they have done this price cut.

That's why despite me hearing Nintendo saying it was the "right time" to release the system, sometimes you have to forgo the financial forecasts as they don't tell the story of "consumer reaction". It was a steep price, AND Nintendo didn't make good on all of the games that were supposed to be ready AT LAUNCH that they SAID WOULD BE... Reggie and others can say what they want, but if it was such a good time to release it, WHY is the 3DS going through this right NOW? This isn't rocket science, so now Nintendo is eating crow. They will be fine though, they just need the s/w to come now, and as long as not too many more games slated for later this year slip to 2012, then they should have a pretty fruitful holiday season.

Forget Vita. For insult to injury, according to IGN, PSP beat 3DS last quarter by about 1.1 million units. 710,000 to 1,800,000. Guess Sony is licking it's chops right now. O...U...C...friggin...H! Hope we turn it around with this, or this might get ugly...er!

A raw profit per hardware unit exceeding 150% says a lot about the honesty of a company. If any of us were planning to sell the thing, bad luck, now we better be happy with the coockie dropped by Nintendo in the form of 20 obsolete games for free as compensation for us to shut up, games that probably many of us have already payed for in the past. I feel robbed by this ridiculous company.

I really hope Nintendo follows the fate of Sega, they deserve it. It would be wonderful to have Miyamoto and some others (quite few) working for PC, Vita, iPad, PS3 or XBoX.

Now, do they expect to sell any WiiU in the first year??

LOL at the comments suggesting that Nintendo might follow the same path as Sega...really, you guys ain't got a clue. Do you even realize how much profit they made with the Wii and DS? Here's a clue. Your calculator would go bust trying to calculate that profit...and that cash is more than enough to help them get through a though launch for their handheld.
Believe me, if any gaming company could be considered in trouble, it would be Sony...outside of Japan, the PSP did not have the desired impact, and the same can be said (to a lesser extent) about the PS3. As it was about to turn a corner, Sony got hit by the PSN hack debacle, which cost them millions...I'm not saying they're gonna stop producing consoles, but that was just to make you guys realise that it isn't just Nintendo who has to go through hard times in gaming. None of the gaming big 3 is gonna go bankrupt anytime soon, you can count on that

Welcome to the worldwide recession. That is why I did not get a 3DS. Food, shelter and transportation are a priority right now. When things get better then I can even think about getting a 3DS but right now my Wii, DSi XL, Xbox 360, Kinect and my classic systems are keeping me busy video game wise. It's nice that the price dropped but when you don't have the money, you don't have the money.

This launch sucked .

@darkgamer001
I appreciate how much money Nintendo has made in the past. Thing is, Sony and Microsoft have so very many other sources of income. They're juggernauts in many fields outside of video gaming. Nintendo is a game company alone. Sony and Microsoft can better absorb losses in their video games divisions. Nintendo can absorb losses too, but I seriously doubt to the extent of Sony and Microsoft. Then, throw Apple into the mix. It's a worst case scenario that I don't see happening, but I consider it in the realm of possibility. Kind of like I know a tornado is highly unlikely to ever strike my home, but it's in the back of my mind when a severe storm comes my way.

@MakeMyBiscuits
Not only that, jobs are anything but plentiful right now. It's so bad here I was employed at (and was highly decorated at) my last job for nearly six years. And that's not even been enough to get me but three job interviews in the last year. So many people out of work that there's always someone around the corner more qualified than you. And jobs are being eliminated faster than they can be created. The entire industry better be worried right now, because things are in worse shape than any talking head on TV or in Washington (or any other national capital) would ever tell you. Right now, I can't even THINK about Wii U because my bills and groceries are in question.

@BetelgeuseWC77
That is tough man. Hang in there. I feel your pain. I had to use E-bay for my gas money I hope and pray things get better for you and your family.

With all this happening now, I have to question Nintendo's wisdom in not just releasing 1 new system but releasing 2 systems when you include the Wii U. I still think the Wii and DSi, especially with the XL released still have more life in them and when your considering their large user bases there seams to be great opportunities to make more money on software.

Wow a lot of you guys are overreacting to this.

its just because of the launch titles really what you should of noticed the console sell like hot cakes when a good game comes out

This wouldn't have happened if Hiroshi Yamauchi was still in position. The 3DS wouldn't even have come into being, i imagine...

Affordability has always been Nintendo's advantage in the handheld space.
That's how Game Boy and the DS came to dominate, cheaper alternatives with more games.
The DS had lots of 2D games as well as 3D. It allowed smaller studios to take part in the action and make some really innovative titles for all sorts of audiences. I fear that the 3DS has ended this era, with people more focused on the 3D than anything else.

@BetelgeuseWC77 you've got a valid point there. I guess the Sony and Microsoft gaming divisions have their pros and cons in being part of a larger corporation, with the obvious advantage of more money, but I guess there are also some cons if other branches of the company are suffering (ex. less funds going towards the gaming division). That said, I think there's a reason why Nintendo did some research on mobile phones. Maybe they are looking to branch out as well...

Those who disagree with the idea that the 3DS is a failure have a lot to explain. How will the 3DS reverse the trend that the N64 and GameCube failed to reverse? Iwata is convinced, why shouldn't you be?

I can't see how it can do any better. Besides, there aren't enough people willing to pay $400+ to play Clinton-era software on a smaller screen.

3d was the last thing we needed from Nintendo. Mario in 2d sells still more than double than the 3d versions. Can't nintendo drop the prices on DSi XL and DSi as well? 3ds remind me a little of this holographic game, time traveller. I kinda like the 3d effect, its cool, but it was not needed.

No surprise. The 3DS is just to expensive. It's good that they will fix that!

The price cut convinced me to buy a 3DS. Before I was sure I was going to buy a DS because it's only $100, but now, with the drop in cost plus all the games from the original DS, AND the games coming this holiday season, it's totally a buy for me.