Launch: March 27th 2011
Price: $249.99
Launches are notorious for console shortages and high prices in the resale market. The Wii was hard to find for more than two years. Xbox 360 consoles sold for hundreds of dollars more than retail the first Christmas. Will the Nintendo 3DS be the same?
Factors to Consider
Launch Date: The Nintendo 3DS is launching in March instead of the holidays so there isn't a huge rush of people who "need" the item for Christmas lists so that might keep demand down a bit.Multiple Country Launch: The Nintendo 3DS will be launching world wide within several months so the supply of the systems will need to be distributed in more places. Supply might be a bit tight in some countries.
Launch Price: The $249.99 price is higher than most other portable consoles. Kotaku has a great article showing how the price compares. Will that discourage some early adopters from buying the system? If so demand might be a bit less than previous Nintendo portables.
3D Visuals: The Nintendo 3DS will be the first mainstream portable device with 3D and it won't require glasses. A lot of consumers might want to play this innovative new device. If so demand could be really high.
What do you think? Will it be hard to find at launch or will you be able to buy one with no problem?
The Nintendo 3DS is now available for pre-order at Amazon
so anyone who thinks it will be hard to find can get a pre-order before they sell out.
4 comments :
Boy am I excited for this system. After playing with some at E3 last year I was willing to go as high as $300 had that been the case. I think I am in the minority though seeing as I love Nintendo stuff and I've already played with one.
And I pre-ordered one at Gamestop today; number 4 on the list.
@travis - I wonder how many each store will have available? The clearest signs of demand will be how quickly Amazon closes pre-orders online and when does Gamestop stop taking pre-orders?
If these both happen rather quickly then the prices will almost definitely be increasing and the system will be hard to find at launch.
@jj I specifically asked the lady at Gamestop if I was guaranteed a system and she said they stop taking pre orders in each store based on how many systems they are supposed to get.
Considering there are 3 people on the list before me, and they just announced the system and price today, I can only imagine they'll have a lot of interest come 2 months from now.
I'm pretty interested in this myself. I feel like the release date might be a bit of a high-price buffer, but if there's a good deal of news coverage showing long lines and such the thing could almost double in price.
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