Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata acknowledges that sales of the company’s 3DS handheld console have been rather lackluster in recent weeks.
According to Iwata, the 3DS isn’t selling as quickly as Nintendo originally anticipated (only 3.61 million units offloaded so far), because people just don’t understand its value or how to properly use the device.
“[The] 3DS was launched in late March. Sales were high in the initial week, but fell below our expectations after the second week,” Iwata confirmed during a conference this week.
“We recognize we are in a situation where we need to step up our efforts to further promote the spread of Nintendo 3DS.”
Iwata also noted that the value of viewing 3D images without the need for special glasses was difficult for many people to appreciate.
“We need to enhance the contents which can be enjoyed passively by non-active users, like a 3D video distribution service. We will promptly work on this after the currently planned hardware update.”
Finally, Iwata admitted that people weren’t necessarily aware of all the console’s features, such as StreetPass, SpotPass, Augmented Reality and Mii Maker.
“It is clear that the combination of these new features is not necessarily easy-to-understand by just saying one word to those without experience. We have found that not all Nintendo 3DS users enjoy this software.
“There seems to be more than a few consumers who have Nintendo 3DS hardware but don’t know about this software and possibly haven’t had a chance to get interested in it,” he added.
[Via CVG]
