After searching news reports, found this article (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...es-in-the-americas-are-worse-than-youd-expect) which kind of explicitly states firsthand what I had posted months ago- that even handheld systems by Nintendo are worse than you expect in America. People all point to worldwide sales, but this article focuses simply at the Americas. It comes directly from Nintendo's own financial report. Here are the numbers it gives:
44.06m -GB/C
41.64m -GBA/SP
59.93m -NDS Family
20.11m -3DS Family
People argue that those handhelds had longer lifespans. That's true for MOST, but not all. What's quite amazing is that the GBA/SP had most those sales in a relatively short period of time. The GB/C started in 1989 and had its successor, the GBA, come out in 2001. The NDS family then began in 2004, just 3 and a half years after GBA came out. If the DS doesn't launch in 2004, but rather closer to 2007, to give GBA 6 years until its successor (exactly have the time as GB/C) there's no doubt in my mind that the GBA not only reaches 100 million lifespan, but quite possibly even 60 million in the Americas, because look how close it finished to GB/C with a shorter lifespan!
Keep that in mind, 2001 to 2004 for the GBA, the lowest selling of all the Nintendo handhelds (so far)- also the shortest lifespan of all the handhelds, which led to the lower total overall. The 3DS launched in 2011, and we're heading into 2017. It'll be 6 this March when NX is expected to come out, and even with the huge increase in sales over last year, given how low last year's sales were (lowest since launch), there's little chance it's going to finish anywhere close to GBA.
So, why even go portable if the Americas aren't buying as many? JAPAN! What this article doesn't do is give you the source data (https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/library/historical_data/pdf/consolidated_sales_e1606.pdf). Doing the same thing with Japan, you see a smaller difference:
32.47m -GB/C
16.96m -GBA/SP
32.99m -NDS Family
21.63m -3DS Family
See how the 3DS has already outsold the GBA in Japan? Not only that, but look how the NDS family and GB/C were pretty darn close to each other in lifetime sales. Also, look back at the numbers for the prior 3, see something else? The 3DS is the first system to have Japan OUTSELL the Americas!! This shows that the handheld market in Japan isn't being eroded as fast as it is in the Americas. You look at the home consoles and sure, it's down too, but looking at Wii U, at least the Americas 6.29 is blowing away Japan's 3.21- clearly we're buying more consoles than Japan. THAT is why it would make perfect sense to make the NX a hybrid. You retain the Japanese market which is primarily portable, and try to get the Americas with the home console version.
44.06m -GB/C
41.64m -GBA/SP
59.93m -NDS Family
20.11m -3DS Family
People argue that those handhelds had longer lifespans. That's true for MOST, but not all. What's quite amazing is that the GBA/SP had most those sales in a relatively short period of time. The GB/C started in 1989 and had its successor, the GBA, come out in 2001. The NDS family then began in 2004, just 3 and a half years after GBA came out. If the DS doesn't launch in 2004, but rather closer to 2007, to give GBA 6 years until its successor (exactly have the time as GB/C) there's no doubt in my mind that the GBA not only reaches 100 million lifespan, but quite possibly even 60 million in the Americas, because look how close it finished to GB/C with a shorter lifespan!
Keep that in mind, 2001 to 2004 for the GBA, the lowest selling of all the Nintendo handhelds (so far)- also the shortest lifespan of all the handhelds, which led to the lower total overall. The 3DS launched in 2011, and we're heading into 2017. It'll be 6 this March when NX is expected to come out, and even with the huge increase in sales over last year, given how low last year's sales were (lowest since launch), there's little chance it's going to finish anywhere close to GBA.
So, why even go portable if the Americas aren't buying as many? JAPAN! What this article doesn't do is give you the source data (https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/library/historical_data/pdf/consolidated_sales_e1606.pdf). Doing the same thing with Japan, you see a smaller difference:
32.47m -GB/C
16.96m -GBA/SP
32.99m -NDS Family
21.63m -3DS Family
See how the 3DS has already outsold the GBA in Japan? Not only that, but look how the NDS family and GB/C were pretty darn close to each other in lifetime sales. Also, look back at the numbers for the prior 3, see something else? The 3DS is the first system to have Japan OUTSELL the Americas!! This shows that the handheld market in Japan isn't being eroded as fast as it is in the Americas. You look at the home consoles and sure, it's down too, but looking at Wii U, at least the Americas 6.29 is blowing away Japan's 3.21- clearly we're buying more consoles than Japan. THAT is why it would make perfect sense to make the NX a hybrid. You retain the Japanese market which is primarily portable, and try to get the Americas with the home console version.
