Activision executive says smartphones and tablets threaten the 3DS/Vita market
“It is a challenging market, and challenging in a number of ways. From a gameplay immersiveness standpoint, from price point and business model standpoint, I mean it’s $40 for some of those games and you can get great experiences – not necessarily comparable experience, but great nonetheless – for seven dollars on a tablet. Our relationships with Sony and Nintendo are important and we continue to support them by creating games on both [Vita and 3DS] platforms. Beyond that the market’s going to speak ultimately as to the viability of those products.” – Activision’s Vice President of Mobile Development, Greg Canessa
Well, I think the market is speaking fairly strongly on the issue! The 3DS just recently surpassed the lifetime sales of the Gamecube (yes, after just two and a half years being out), it’s halfway to meeting the lifetime sales of the SNES, and two-thirds of the way to meeting the N64’s lifetime sales. On top of that, it’s still outselling the original DS on a week-to-week basis!
Vita isn’t doing so hot, but I think the 3DS’ performance alone speaks to how healthy/unhealthy the portable gaming market is.
