Nintendo Australia management don’t know when they will launch their new 3D DSi handheld gaming device with the local Company only made aware of the products existence one hour ahead of the global announcement on Tuesday night but they do warn that the experience will not be as good as Avatar in a Cinema.
During an exclusive interview with ChannelNews Nintendo management have also it out at the lack of GFK gaming market data from JB Hi Fi stores.
Greg Atherton marketing director of Nintendo Australia said that the 3D device will deliver a “tremendous 3D experience. We have not seen the product, nor do we know what 3D games will be available”.
However he warns that the 3D gaming experience from the new DSi “will not be Avatar quality” he said. “It will be 3D and it will deliver 3D elements but it will not be the same experience as the movie”.
Atherton said that handheld gaming on the iPhone was more of a threat to the Nintendo DSi than the struggling Sony PSP Go.
New research shows that games developed for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch accounted for 19% of all revenue from games developed for mobile devices in 2009, up from 5% in 2008, according to a report from mobile analytics firm Flurry.
Flurry said that iPhone games took market share largely from Sony’s PSP, although market share for Nintendo’s DS was affected as well.
The Sony PSP’s share portable game revenue fell from 20% in 2008 to 11% in 2009, while the Nintendo DS’ market share slid from 75% in 2008 to 70% last year.
Games for the iPhone also accounted for roughly 5% of the total game software market in 2009, compared with games for portable (24%) and console (71%) platforms.
In Australia Atherton who has recently launched the black Nintendo Wii in Australia believes that local gaming industry is on track to match “if not better” last year’s performance of around $1.9 billion in revenues.
“The first two months of 2010 has seen steady sales and the launch of the Nintendo Wii will give us more of a promotional lift than an overall lift he said”.
During an exclusive interview with ChannelNews Atherton said that the lack of marketplace information from JB Hi Fi stores where a “large chunk” of consoles and games are sold was now impacting Nintendo.
Earlier this year JB Hi Fi stopped the European research Company from collecting data in their stores.
“The lack of GFK data from JB Hi Fi stores is impacting us because they are such an important retailer of games. While we get data from the retailer we are unable to measure things like sku efficiency. We have raised this with GFK and I don’t know what the answer is”
Atherton is confident that Nintendo Australia will hit their 2010 sales targets despite a major downturn in overseas markets.
24 hours after the Nintendo 3d DSI announcement Sony has already taken a stab at the device claiming that they are not confident that 3D on a small gaming device will work.
John Koller director of hardware marketing at Sony said that consumers will not enjoy the kind of broad market appeal some of Nintendo’s previous portables have, due to Nintendo’s perceived young audience.
“Having been in the portable space for quite awhile, I think it’s an interesting move but one I’d like to see where they go from a demographic standpoint,” Koller said, according to the article, adding, “8- and 9-year-olds playing 3D is a little bit of a stretch given where some of our research is right now.”
For its part, Sony believes that the future in 3D is in the console.
