Does today's price cut spell doom for the Nintendo 3DS?

It's been quite a year for Nintendo. Prior to the international 3DS launch few would have bet against the Big N's chances of annihilating the competition with another innovative console.

Then, after several months of disappointing sales, it finally announced a massive 3DS price cut, effective from today.

Now that punters can pick up a 3DS at almost the same price as a DS in some stores, the mental image inevitably appears of a console circling the drain.

Or is the price cut a sign that Nintendo is quick to address its failures with savvy commercial manoeuvres?

In the finest tradition of the Pocket Gamer virtual office, we had a productivity-sapping argument about it earlier today. Here it is, blow for blow.

Will Wilson: Look at it this way - it's like Sony selling the PS3 for less than the PS2 back in 2006. Mike Rose: It really isn’t though. The PS3 is miles more powerful that the PS2. The 3DS is a DS with 3D visuals. Keith Andrew: Power isn't really important. It's a successor - a genuine successor. There's no way Nintendo will have wanted to sell it for cheaper than DS.

I mean - speaking frankly - I hadn't realised how cheap it was. This reminds me of when Sega started strapping free DVD players to Dreamcast. In my eyes, this is the beginning of the end.

I'm even less likely to buy one now the prices have been slashed so badly, because it suggests none of the retailers have any confidence in it.

Mark Brown: Well, it’s Nintendo that has no confidence, not the retailers. Amazon can't hold out and say "I think it's worth £245!" they'd sell no units. Mike Rose: Yeah, that's kinda bollocks, Keith. Multiple developers and publishers have said how happy they are that the price has been cut and lots have said they’ll consider developing for it.

So if anything we'll see more content for it in the coming year. Why do developers care what price the console is? If it’s in the hands of lots of consumers, they’ll sell games.

Matt Gilman: I can see where Keith is coming from though. Who wants to invest in a console for any price when even the people that made it are losing confidence in it? Keith Andrew: I'm not talking about developer confidence -though I would suggest they're hardly likely to say anything else.

I'm talking at a retail level. If the price has been slashed this far, so much so that you can get one cheaper than its predecessor, then that shows no-one's buying them and the retail market has no confidence that it's going to sell long-term. They're trying to shift the stock they have.

Chris Schilling: I'm genuinely staggered by Mike's comment that 3DS is just a DS with 3D. Mike Rose: What has it done that is so much more incredible than what the DS did? I play games on the 3DS, and I think to myself, ‘how is this better than the DS Zeldas?’ Keith Andrew: Isn't this what I argued at launch and got slated for in this very room? Mike Rose: The 3DS is more powerful, but if devs aren't using it, it’s a DS with 3D. Chris Schilling: You can't have played on your DS lately, 3DS graphics are a generation beyond DS. Will Wilson: Yup. Mark Brown: I agree. Rob Hearn: Do we think the price cut will pull the 3DS out of its tailspin? Mike Rose: The bottom line for me is that the 3DS has been a horrible disappointment and no game has blown me away graphically. So, therefore, who gives a shit if it’s got better visuals? Keith Andrew: The problem with cutting prices by this amount is there's no way back. If they put the price back up, sales will plummet again. People aren't buying into the concept - they'll buy now because it's cheap and it almost seems stupid not to

But you can't go back from that. It’ll need to stick at this price, and when sales drop again, they'll have to drop it again. It really is tracking Dreamcast's path.

Matt Gilman: The price drop does show that they are trying to rectify the situation, though. Unlike the PSPgo. Keith Andrew: The fact that it can be picked up cheaper than its predecessor is shocking as far as Nintendo is concerned, but where do you go from £100, less than a year after launch? I mean, that's drastic. And, in short, it's a dead format.

From a business perspective, you can't do anything from £100. You have no leverage, unless they release a 3DS XL or something, at a higher price. But the lesson learned from this is, the concept isn't captivating enough to get consumers to part with their cash at a higher price.

Will Wilson: Of course, the flip-side is that it shows the DS is still in strong demand - how else would it be able to hold a relatively flat price?

But that asks the question - was the 3DS released too early?

Chris Schilling: It was over here, yes.

In Japan Nintendo felt it needed to act because PSP was selling better than DS on a regular basis. Nintendo needs to realise that the market in Japan is very different from the one overseas.

Also the negative press about the 3D has actively put a lot of people off.

Keith Andrew: No, I think it was the right time for a successor. If anything, Wii U has come too late comparatively.

Matt Gilman: I don't think it’s just that the concept isn't attractive enough for consumers. It’s the content that’s the major problem.

Keith Andrew: Content is an issue, but people are used to buying new consoles without many games - it's the bane of a launch. You buy a new console near launch for the tech. You buy it because it feels flash. Matt Gilman: But at six months in you don’t usually buy it just because it’s cheap... Keith Andrew: The problem is, 3DS doesn't offer the wow factor. It is, as Mike put perfectly, a DS with 3D. Mike Rose: Hey, I got something right. Go me.

In all honesty, talking about the future of the Nintendo 3DS just makes me incredibly uptight now in a very strange way.

I think I hate the fact that for the future of this console, I'm pretty much waiting for the very f*cking same things I waited for on the DS. And for the GameCube before it. In comparison, when I got a PS3, all the new IPs were exciting.

Mark Brown: The DS launch was great! You had like Trauma Centre and Phoenix Wright really early on. Will Wilson: Advance Wars DS was brilliant. That's what made my buy mine. Matt Gilman: (Ahem) Technically Phoenix Wright was a remake of a Japanese GBA game... Mike Rose: The 3DS has barely anything... in fact, does it have ANYTHING new? Mark Brown: On DS all of Nintendo's main properties got games early on, 3DS is just slooooooow.

Mike Rose: I’m just not really looking forward to a single 3DS game. I have no excitement for the console, at all.

Keith Andrew: That uptight feeling is exactly what I mean though, Mike. And this price cut for me adds to it.

It makes me, as a prospective consumer, even less certain 3DS will be around in two or three years' time and so less likely to make the leap.

Mike Rose: I'm of the opinion that the price cut is the only GOOD thing that has happened to the 3DS. I did breathe a sigh of relief when I heard about it, as now the console might actually find legs. But for now, I'm still very wary. Rob Hearn: What will the 3DS situation be like a year from now? Chris Schilling: I think it's still very early days. The price cut could help, but I'm not sure there's a market for dedicated handheld consoles any more - or not a big enough one, anyway.

As I've said hundreds of times, the App Store has irrevocably changed price expectations for portable gaming, and while 3DS games might have a level of depth and design polish that (almost) nothing on iOS can match, that doesn't matter to the majority.

Mike Rose: My personal hope is that it has quality games coming out every month from third-parties, the eShop has weekly releases that aren't just old shitty Game Boy titles, and graphically, the 3D is actually used in exciting ways, instead of feeling tacked on.

Also, I blame Apple for everything.

Keith Andrew: I honestly couldn't say. The fact it's nearing a sub £100 price point this early in its life suggests it'll be incredibly difficult for Nintendo to fashion a long term business out of this.

Consumers will pick it up at this price in greater numbers, and sales will rise for a while, but the fact Nintendo and retailers alike have been forced into such action so early in its life suggests, as a long-term project, its future is in doubt.

Matt Gilman: I think if the price had started lower in the first place it would have made a difference, but regardless there's still not much in the way of exciting new content coming in the future.

Constantly making re-hashes of old games is fine, but as Mike said, where are the genius new IPs? Even the GameCube had Eternal Darkness.

And if Nintendo was to open up and let the indie devs all the way in like Apple...

Will Wilson: It's a bargain at this price. But it’ll likely cost Nintendo quite dearly. Chris Schilling: As a final note, I'm genuinely a little saddened that there's no room for a dedicated handheld any more. I've had some great times with my DS, but it looks like its follow-up won't be around for very long. PS Vita could well be the last 'traditional' handheld games console. Keith Andrew: And even that has an especially mobile bent, with all it social features. Will Wilson: It's basically what Carmack said would happen. Keith Andrew: The market has changed, I think. I said in the podcast yesterday, Nintendo is now following the curve rather than being ahead of it. And it's dragging its feet. Chris Schilling: Even though there are things you can do with Vita and 3DS that are impossible on iOS, the price differential is such that people are happy to compromise. You'll never get a platformer on iOS that can come close to what's possible on 3DS and Vita, for example, but evidently that's not enough. And what about you? You've probably got an opinion of some kind. Continue the argument below!