Handheld gaming is on its last legs in the West

Looking at the January NPD, the future for handheld doesn't look too bright.

Nintendo was too embarassed to even release sales information on the 3DS. Mario Kart 7 was at a distant #7 on the software sales charts despite no new releases, and it is pretty much to only game worth buying on the system. #7 is a pretty low spot. Usually games in that position sell less than 100k. The only other game worth buying, Super Mario 3D Land, has disappeared off the top 10.

We can only take a guess at 3DS hardware sales for January, but looking at the pitiful software sales, it doesn't sound like it went over too well.

Now let's analyze the Vita. This platform has ZERO media hype. None. Nada. Type "Vita" into Google News and half the stuff is not even related to Vita, or it talks about its pathetic Japan sales (which, I might add, are lower than even the PS3's when it launched). Why do cows believe this overpriced, massive, and feature-less system will do so well in the West is beyond me. Uncharted 3 didn't even sell 2 million in the US. Hot Shots Golf is practically a niche game despite its target audience. All the other games are ports that have a superior version on a console you already own (PS3 or Xbox 360). Talk about an exciting launch.

The truth is all around us, but we're all choosing to deny it. Smartphones are selling faster than ever: almost everyone has one. These devices can play games, and they do it better. The games are cheaper, more suited to handheld play, have better graphics and appeal to all demographics. The most wanted Christmas present from children (the biggest demographic for handheld systems) was unsurprisingly NOT the 3DS. The 3DS wasn't even on the map. Kids nowadays want iPod Touches, iPads and iPhones.

For one, they are socially acceptable, which is pretty important for most young people. Second of all, they have the games people want. What are the best series on handhelds? Ace Attorney, Final Fantasy, Ghost Trick, and a bunch of other RPGs. ALL these games are being ported to iOS. You buy Resident Evil Revelations for $50 right now, but don't complain when it's available on iOS for $15, 6 months later. Third, you can truly play them anywhere. The 3DS is huge, and if you're taking it out, you better confirm to yourself that you are at least going to playing it for 10 minutes. If you're waiting in line at the bank, you wouldn't get a 3DS out. The scene would be comical. Smartphone games are the true definition of quick pick up and play. There are games you can play for as quick as 2 minutes a go, and there are deep RPGs and niche SHMUPs that can last you for hours. There's something for everyone, and almost every situation.

TL;DR Handheld system sales are very poor. Handheld gaming is outdated. New technology will replace old.

Does not bode well for Vita, especially considering how it launches in about a week and almost no one knows what it even is.

Yes handheld gaming just isn't cool, its only popular in japan

I have never seen adult playing handheld at public in my country

Off to playing on cellphones then.

Yes handheld gaming just isn't cool, its only popular in japan

I have never seen adult playing handheld at public in my country

Zurrur

Try going out.

Yes handheld gaming just isn't cool, its only popular in japan

I have never seen adult playing handheld at public in my country

Zurrur

Did you forget to login to your alt?

Dedicated handhelds are dead men walking.

But I am sure they'll limp along for a few more years before they morph/merge.

I think they'll be fine. for a good while at least.

I'm sure the 3DS will pick up more steam, especially with Nintendo's new 3DS tv commercials that will be airing, and Nintendo isn't one to not promote their products. The only thing the 3DS really needs though, is some Touch Generation titles that sold the DS to the masses. It doesn't need to be a new Brain Age or thing of that sort, but Nintendo's 3DS right now seems to be a little too "hardcore" with only Mario Kart and SM3DL really being the kind of games for "anyone." yoshi_64

Also handheld gaming needs to get on its knees if it wants to survive. Amirite or amirite?

While I agree that the IOS and Android phones are taking over the mobile gaming market, they will not completely dominate it until full fledged, legitimate games like a Mario Kart, Resident Evil or something of that nature comes out! Plants Vs. Zombies, Infinity Blade 2 and Angry Birds only get you so far!!ShoTTyMcNaDeS

[QUOTE="yoshi_64"]I'm sure the 3DS will pick up more steam, especially with Nintendo's new 3DS tv commercials that will be airing, and Nintendo isn't one to not promote their products. The only thing the 3DS really needs though, is some Touch Generation titles that sold the DS to the masses. It doesn't need to be a new Brain Age or thing of that sort, but Nintendo's 3DS right now seems to be a little too "hardcore" with only Mario Kart and SM3DL really being the kind of games for "anyone." Eponique

[QUOTE="ShoTTyMcNaDeS"]While I agree that the IOS and Android phones are taking over the mobile gaming market, they will not completely dominate it until full fledged, legitimate games like a Mario Kart, Resident Evil or something of that nature comes out! Plants Vs. Zombies, Infinity Blade 2 and Angry Birds only get you so far!!Eponique

PS Vita is certainly almost dead and yes smart phones are replacing portables more or less and Sonys latest device is dieing a disgraceful death because of its rubbish first and third party content.

However the 3DS is an exception.It is on its way to outsell the life time sales of the PS3 in just one year in Japan.3DS might not do as well as the DS but it will probably still outsell Wii and Wii U,Xbox 360 and 720 and PS3 and PS4.Your argument could be used to say that consoles are dieing as well and being replace by PC.3DS has already sold 15 million units and is not even out for 1 year on market.It is doing better than PS3 and Xbox 360 and also better than the original DS.PS Vita deseves to be ignored by consumers as it is another shameful device by Sony and the Vita is dieing because third party have deserted Sony to go to Nintendo with Monster Hunter 3,4,Dragon Quest,Metal Gear,Resident Evil and Kingdom Hearts.

PS Vitas failure,as it is flopping much much harder than the Dreamcast,indicates that the PS4 will be Sonys last consoles if they lose third party support to Nintendo,just like it is happening with the 3DS.Fanboys dont like to admit it but no one cares about Sonys first party,people buy their consoles to play third party games like COD,FiFa,Madden,NFS,GTA,ReD Ded,Final Fantasy etc.If Sony has to rely on their first party then PS4 will be dead on arrival just like the PS Vita.

Handheld gaming is only good for JRPGs, that's why.

Also, you don't take into account that in the months following the 3DS price drop in America it sold 3 million of that 4 million in 4 months And you compare 7 years of DS data, but you didn't even take the time to do the math that if the 3DS sells 5 million a year in Japan, that it would reach the 30 million unit sales of the DS in Japan in 4 years instead of 7. All you had to do was a little math to see that the 3DS is selling faster than the DS. Furthermore, despite 3DS sales not being consistently near the 500k levels of DS in the past, it sold much faster than the DS ever did in the months following the price drop Between 8/11 thru 12/12 the 3DS sold 3 million units + in USA, while the DS did have some strong 4 month quarters throughout its 7 years in the USA, but the DS usually averaged 2.3 million units over each 4 month period in the USA for its 50 million + over 7 years in the region. (Math is the DS sells 50 million divided by 7 years, that is above 7.1 million per year taking into account good years and bad years in sales, than divide 7.1 million per year by the three 4 month periods in a year, and the DS would come out at 2.3 million per four month period)bonesawisready5

And no, the 3DS price drop sales are only 200-300k if you ignore any holiday bumps. The DS sold 500k+ OUTSIDE of the holiday season without price drops. Even in the holiday season, it would sell 3 million+, not 1.6 million the 3DS did. 3DS sales are nowhere near DS sales.

As for Japan sales.

Good luck trying to conquer that DS holiday bump. Anyway, this thread is not about Japan. It's about the West, as you can see in the title.

The reason the DS is selling slowly in your math is because you are comparing 3DS holiday season to DS's normal season. The DS sold almost ~5 million each holiday season, as you can see in the above Wiki link I gave. So no, 3DS are nothing like the DS sales. You can't ignore all the 500k+ months the DS had, and then look at the sub-200k the 3DS is pulling in a positive light.

PS Vita is certainly almost dead and yes smart phones are replacing portables more or less and Sonys latest device is dieing a disgraceful death because of its rubbish first and third party content.

However the 3DS is an exception.It is on its way to outsell the life time sales of the PS3 in just one year in Japan.3DS might not do as well as the DS but it will probably still outsell Wii and Wii U,Xbox 360 and 720 and PS3 and PS4.Your argument could be used to say that consoles are dieing as well and being replace by PC.3DS has already sold 15 million units and is not even out for 1 year on market.It is doing better than PS3 and Xbox 360 and also better than the original DS.PS Vita deseves to be ignored by consumers as it is another shameful device by Sony and the Vita is dieing because third party have deserted Sony to go to Nintendo with Monster Hunter 3,4,Dragon Quest,Metal Gear,Resident Evil and Kingdom Hearts.

PS Vitas failure,as it is flopping much much harder than the Dreamcast,indicates that the PS4 will be Sonys last consoles if they lose third party support to Nintendo,just like it is happening with the 3DS.Fanboys dont like to admit it but no one cares about Sonys first party,people buy their consoles to play third party games like COD,FiFa,Madden,NFS,GTA,ReD Ded,Final Fantasy etc.If Sony has to rely on their first party then PS4 will be dead on arrival just like the PS Vita.

zeldisco2009

'Tis a sad day for the nomadic gamer.

Alas, times change. Should handheld gaming die with the 3DS and Vita, I'll finally back out of gaming altogether.

[QUOTE="bonesawisready5"] Also, you don't take into account that in the months following the 3DS price drop in America it sold 3 million of that 4 million in 4 months And you compare 7 years of DS data, but you didn't even take the time to do the math that if the 3DS sells 5 million a year in Japan, that it would reach the 30 million unit sales of the DS in Japan in 4 years instead of 7. All you had to do was a little math to see that the 3DS is selling faster than the DS. Furthermore, despite 3DS sales not being consistently near the 500k levels of DS in the past, it sold much faster than the DS ever did in the months following the price drop Between 8/11 thru 12/12 the 3DS sold 3 million units + in USA, while the DS did have some strong 4 month quarters throughout its 7 years in the USA, but the DS usually averaged 2.3 million units over each 4 month period in the USA for its 50 million + over 7 years in the region. (Math is the DS sells 50 million divided by 7 years, that is above 7.1 million per year taking into account good years and bad years in sales, than divide 7.1 million per year by the three 4 month periods in a year, and the DS would come out at 2.3 million per four month period)Eponique

And no, the 3DS price drop sales are only 200-300k if you ignore any holiday bumps. The DS sold 500k+ OUTSIDE of the holiday season without price drops. Even in the holiday season, it would sell 3 million+, not 1.6 million the 3DS did. 3DS sales are nowhere near DS sales.

As for Japan sales.

Good luck trying to conquer that DS holiday bump. Anyway, this thread is not about Japan. It's about the West, as you can see in the title.

The reason the DS is selling slowly in your math is because you are comparing 3DS holiday season to DS's normal season. The DS sold almost ~5 million each holiday season, as you can see in the above Wiki link I gave. So no, 3DS are nothing like the DS sales. You can't ignore all the 500k+ months the DS had, and then look at the sub-200k the 3DS is pulling in a positive light.

Also handheld gaming needs to get on its knees if it wants to survive. Amirite or amirite?

waltefmoney

Mario Kart 7 will still go pretty good, it was number 4 in December, number 7 last month. You've got RE: R that will move some units in Feb, but expect Luigi's Mansion 2 or Paper Mario in April-May, and its shaping up to have Animal Crossing in the summer. Also, you're forgetting Nintendo announced a New Super Mario Bros for the 3DS for this next fiscal year, which anyone who isn't stupid knows that means it will release in Fall 2012. Lol, $1-$10 the average. I could go on for days about how I disagree with that but it would be a never ending conversation. All the $1 gamers on app stores can enjoy the race to the bottom and lack of production values in their games as far as I'm concerned, with rare exceptions of course but that's just my opinion and it means nothing else so don't take it like I think it means much more than that. All I can say is both Mario Kart 7, Super Mario 3D Land have sold well over 5-6 million copies worldwide in 60 days or less. (meaning 30% of 3DS base has them)bonesawisready5

My own opinion is that you are missing the big picture.

The number of companies making smartphones, the amount of money being plowed into them, and the number that are being sold are all massive orders of magnitude above the two dedicated handheld makers.

Smartphones have only existed for a few years. Tablets even less. Thepace of development of technology in this space means that a fixed hardware platform for a dedicated handheld will get eclipsed rapidly in the near future, probably more rapidly than PCs outpace consoles. It doesn't matter how powerful Vita is today when in two years it will be easily surpassed. And it will be surpassed by things selling hundreds of millions of units per year, not ten million.

It isn't hard to see that developers are going to proliferate on new platforms. It isn't hard to see that hardware accessories are going to be added to multipurpose smartphones and tablets to allow plug in controllers with buttons and all. And when that happens you will be able to make any kind of game playable on a multipurpose portable device.

It isn't that handhelds and the ability to play more complicated games with more complicated control schemes is going to disappear. What will happen is that these things are going to merge/morph. Indeed, it is highly likely that the portable device will merge/dock with base station and you will be able to seamlessly move from your livingroom to mobile.

The problem is going to be for the closed system dedicated handheld (and then console) manufacturers. It doesn't mean that the style of gaming associated with dedicated handhelds will disappear, just that the business model for the hardware is going to be shaken up.

And which platform are Professor Layton games, Professor Layton vs Ace Attorney coming out on? Also, what do you do if (and it could go to iOS too) Ace Attorney 5 is announced not for iOS but for DS or 3DS? Not all Ace Attorney games are on iOS btw. Why doesn't everyone realize that just like flash gaming killing console/pc gaming, handheld gaming killing console gaming, console gaming killing pc gaming, pc gaming killing console gaming, all these scenarios where people thought one type of gaming was going to kill off another it turned out each got stronger on their own and all of them co-exist.bonesawisready5

Types of gaming have died before. What happened to Arcade gaming btw? Remember when console gaming crashed and disappeared for almost a decade? It's not impossible. Mobile gaming and handheld gaming are also pretty much the same thing. We only differentiate it because of the way games are played (touchscreen, short 5 minute bursts vs. buttons, more suited for 15~30 minute bursts). Ultimately, they serve the same function.

--I'll be back in an hour. I have to do some other stuff.

[QUOTE="yoshi_64"]I'm sure the 3DS will pick up more steam, especially with Nintendo's new 3DS tv commercials that will be airing, and Nintendo isn't one to not promote their products. The only thing the 3DS really needs though, is some Touch Generation titles that sold the DS to the masses. It doesn't need to be a new Brain Age or thing of that sort, but Nintendo's 3DS right now seems to be a little too "hardcore" with only Mario Kart and SM3DL really being the kind of games for "anyone." Eponique

[QUOTE="waltefmoney"]

Also handheld gaming needs to get on its knees if it wants to survive. Amirite or amirite?

Eponique

[QUOTE="bonesawisready5"] And which platform are Professor Layton games, Professor Layton vs Ace Attorney coming out on? Also, what do you do if (and it could go to iOS too) Ace Attorney 5 is announced not for iOS but for DS or 3DS? Not all Ace Attorney games are on iOS btw. Why doesn't everyone realize that just like flash gaming killing console/pc gaming, handheld gaming killing console gaming, console gaming killing pc gaming, pc gaming killing console gaming, all these scenarios where people thought one type of gaming was going to kill off another it turned out each got stronger on their own and all of them co-exist.Eponique

Types of gaming have died before. What happened to Arcade gaming btw? Remember when console gaming crashed and disappeared for almost a decade? It's not impossible. Mobile gaming and handheld gaming are also pretty much the same thing. We only differentiate it because of the way games are played (touchscreen, short 5 minute bursts vs. buttons, more suited for 15~30 minute bursts). Ultimately, they serve the same function.

--I'll be back in an hour. I have to do some other stuff.

Also handheld gaming needs to get on its knees if it wants to survive. Amirite or amirite?

waltefmoney

but yea handheld isnt what it used to be 2 decades ago

Whatever you want to believe it or not, I agree with posters like SUD & Eponique here. Dedicated gaming handhelds are dying, & are starting to be on their way out.

[QUOTE="waltefmoney"]

Also handheld gaming needs to get on its knees if it wants to survive. Amirite or amirite?

almasdeathchild

What irony?

[QUOTE="almasdeathchild"]

[QUOTE="waltefmoney"]

Also handheld gaming needs to get on its knees if it wants to survive. Amirite or amirite?

waltefmoney

What irony?

your avy..ive seen it somewhere.....

almasdeathchild

We've all seen it somewhere.

[QUOTE="almasdeathchild"]

your avy..ive seen it somewhere.....

waltefmoney

We've all seen it somewhere.

I don't dispute that "handhelds" (which I consider primarily as 3DS, Vita, DS, PSP, etc.) are definitely not trending well, but mobile gaming is as big now as ever. Simply, there is a new format in which to enjoy them (smartphones/tablets) and people expect their game devices to do more than just play games.

[QUOTE="bonesawisready5"] Mario Kart 7 will still go pretty good, it was number 4 in December, number 7 last month. You've got RE: R that will move some units in Feb, but expect Luigi's Mansion 2 or Paper Mario in April-May, and its shaping up to have Animal Crossing in the summer. Also, you're forgetting Nintendo announced a New Super Mario Bros for the 3DS for this next fiscal year, which anyone who isn't stupid knows that means it will release in Fall 2012. Lol, $1-$10 the average. I could go on for days about how I disagree with that but it would be a never ending conversation. All the $1 gamers on app stores can enjoy the race to the bottom and lack of production values in their games as far as I'm concerned, with rare exceptions of course but that's just my opinion and it means nothing else so don't take it like I think it means much more than that. All I can say is both Mario Kart 7, Super Mario 3D Land have sold well over 5-6 million copies worldwide in 60 days or less. (meaning 30% of 3DS base has them)SUD123456

My own opinion is that you are missing the big picture.

The number of companies making smartphones, the amount of money being plowed into them, and the number that are being sold are all massive orders of magnitude above the two dedicated handheld makers.

Smartphones have only existed for a few years. Tablets even less. Thepace of development of technology in this space means that a fixed hardware platform for a dedicated handheld will get eclipsed rapidly in the near future, probably more rapidly than PCs outpace consoles. It doesn't matter how powerful Vita is today when in two years it will be easily surpassed. And it will be surpassed by things selling hundreds of millions of units per year, not ten million.

It isn't hard to see that developers are going to proliferate on new platforms. It isn't hard to see that hardware accessories are going to be added to multipurpose smartphones and tablets to allow plug in controllers with buttons and all. And when that happens you will be able to make any kind of game playable on a multipurpose portable device.

It isn't that handhelds and the ability to play more complicated games with more complicated control schemes is going to disappear. What will happen is that these things are going to merge/morph. Indeed, it is highly likely that the portable device will merge/dock with base station and you will be able to seamlessly move from your livingroom to mobile.

The problem is going to be for the closed system dedicated handheld (and then console) manufacturers. It doesn't mean that the style of gaming associated with dedicated handhelds will disappear, just that the business model for the hardware is going to be shaken up.

Honestly handheld games are dying...

While there are many that are ignorant and will dismiss ios/android type games many of them are fun and only cost 99 cents and reguarly apps go on sale or are free.

I like my 3ds but man 40-50 dollar games on a handheld are a joke.

Not to mention the games on the 3ds virtual store are over priced.... Zenonia 1 ONE ONE for 7 dollars.... zenonia 1-4 cost 3 dollars on the ios/android..

Yup. Smartphones are to blame.