i am talking about the casual market. not just the audience the wii brought in, but the one that usually buys inexpensive or valuable hardware (the ps2's fanbase and the 360's late fanbase as well).
consider the 3ds the canary in the goldmine. if something very definite is happening one once incredibly stable and successful part of the market (even when the ds was facing a huge uphill battle, the psp and the gba kept on trucking), it probably doesn't mean that everything else is just hunky dory.
I'd again disagree, in that I think you're conflating two different markets into one.
Despite the handheld and home console markets being both ostensibly part of the wider gaming industry, I do not see, for instance, competition from Angry Birds for the hearts and minds of children and young people's market, the bread and butter of the handheld market - essentially its equivalent "casual market", as some sort of weather vane for the part of the home console market, the "casual market" that buys annualized COD, Madden and FIFA.
I do not see the overlap between the 25 year old male buying these franchises and smart device only gaming, because again, I do not see them as good substitutes. When they do become good substitutes then I can most certainly see them eating into this particular market much more. But I don't think we're there yet.
I can also foresee issues in the future whereby these younger audiences now fully associate gaming with such devices, but I don't think we're there yet either.
Yeah, it pretty much is reverting to GBA levels. ... There are regional differences in the sales (3DS is weaker in the US, stronger elsewhere), but the worldwide numbers are similar.
We're talking about the US handheld market though, and whether or not it's in decline or reverting to GBA levels. Where it frankly seems far more like the former, and software is much lower as well as far as I'm aware.
It is too expensive, I agree.
Sega was losing way too much money and consumer interest was all over the PS2. One of those strange times were games didn't actually made a difference.
At the least Nintendo made the cycle interesting again, this time at expense of the success of their home console line. They just need to play the patience card, it would be interesting to see how things pan out for them this holliday if they chose not to drop price. I think that would be a risky move that might be of benefit to them and the experiment will prove how plausible their chances are to come up with profits out of the Wii U endevour.
I think the various comments from senior management have made it clear they don't really plan to drop the price. They're betting on bundles being enough to move the needle it seems.
