The 3DS is the fourth generation of portable game consoles launched by Nintendo Corporation of Japan in 2011, which is a follow-up model of Nintendo DS. DS has become a legend in the company's handheld history, 3DS including 2DS, although not able to reach the same height as DS, but by the end of his career, it has also achieved considerable success.
Former Nintendo President Reggie Firth Amy recalls in his book (Subverting the Game: From the Bronx to the Apex of Nintendo) that prior to the release of 3DS, due to the game's limited release lineup and market conditions, he repeatedly suggested reducing the starting price from $249.99 to $199.99 (note: The Switch Lite started at $199.99 in 2019 and the PSV start price in 2012 was $249.99). But his proposal was rejected, in part because the handheld was relatively expensive to manufacture at the time, offering a mid-price, but Reggie still wanted to keep the price at around $200, explaining that this was a strategy against Western retail practices.
However, after a strong performance in the first month, 3DS sales fell sharply. As Reggie puts it in his book, this puts a huge strain on the company. In some areas, Nintendo was asked to reclaim large amounts of unsold inventory, a process that was disastrous at the time, according to the explanation. It was this that, to some extent, caused the handheld to fall sharply in price in the months after its launch.
Reggie said that when it was finally clear that the price would be reduced to $169 in the United States, he advocated reward compensation for customers who bought at the original price early, such as providing ten NES and GBA games on their handhelds for the first time to buy 3DS.
It also prompted Reggie to redouble his efforts to share Western perspectives more closely with decision makers at his Kyoto headquarters, encouraging Western executives to improve their presence in the NCL, a decision that was ultimately implemented by Tatsumi Junjima, who succeeded Satoshi Iwata as ceo of the company. Although Reggie and Satoshi Iwata have never agreed on a decision on the starting price of the 3DS, the price cut is what he believes is the best solution to deal with the dire situation.
