Nintendo 3DS has “turned the corner” say analysts

Last year Nintendo appeared to be dead in the water.  The Nintendo 3DS had a bungled launch, the Wii was slowly fading into the twighlight, and the Wii U had a misunderstood reveal. At least one of those problems has been remedied according to analysts.  Two of the most outspoken ones, Michael Pachter and Jesse Divnich, now think that Nintendo’s 3DS has turned the corner.

Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities believes that the initial price point was incorrect.  Though he “was surprised that it sold so few at the $249 price point.”  Pachter also believes that the initial sluggish sales were also bogged down by “lack of third party software support”.  This is something that Jesse Divnich of EEDAR agrees with.  “We will be paying attention to software attach rates.  Selling hardware is great, but its only the first step.  The health of any hardware is directly correlated to the amount of software consumers buy.”

Japanese sales figures have Nintendo’s handheld handily beating out Sony’s recent offering, as well as the last generation handheld’s from both itself and its major competitor.  2012 looks to be a great year for the 3DS on the software side of things.  The company also recently released its first quarter catalog of coming attractions, which has a good mix of first and third party games.