DS 'refresh' would reinvigorate sales, says market analyst
Nintendo has denied it but sales predictions show it's a logical next step
As we reported earlier today, DS sales are expected to drop in the 2009 fiscal year and have already plunged significantly in Japan. And that's not a prediction from some city type who doesn't know their Mega Drive from their microwave. It's stated in Nintendo's own financial reports for investors. Essentially, DS sales have been so massive and so phenomenal since the console's launch, the company is running out of people to sell the things to.
And according to market analyst Colin Sebastian, whose comments have been picked up by industry news site gi.biz, there's one obvious solution to this sales slump: a refresh of the DS.
It does seem like the next likely move for Nintendo, although the company categorically denied recent rumours started by Famitsu publisher Hirokazu Hamamura it would reveal a new DS at this year's E3.
After all, if it took inspiration from Apple's iPod (another successful and massive selling product that similarly saturated its own market) it would be countering that by releasing a redesigned DS every six months or so, with higher resolution screens, hard-drives, variable sizes, colours… the possibilities are considerable.
Whether it's a business plan that would work as well for a games console as it does an MP3 player is a different matter, clearly, but certainly these latest predictions indicate Nintendo will want to do something to reinvigorate DS sales and we're thinking a new Mario game alone probably isn't going to do it, is it?
