Times don’t look fine and dandy at all for Nintendo who after recently announcing a poor performance in Q2, confirmed plans to slash prices of its 3DS handheld. The current price of $249.9 USD (approx Rs. 11016) is expected to be abbreviated to $169.99 (approx Rs. 7,493) from August 12 onwards. The Japanese giant seems to be targeting the holiday season to generate expected sales.
With this announcement, Nintendo also declared a Nintendo 3DS Ambassador program which looks like nothing but an approach to counter repercussions expected from fans. The program would reward those 3DS owners who log-on to the eShop before 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Aug. 11, by offering 20 free downloadable games. These games include 10 games each from Nintendo’s NES and Game Boy Advance devices and cover the likes of Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Jr., The Legend of Zelda, Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Mario vs. Donkey Kong.
“For anyone who was on the fence about buying a Nintendo 3DS, this is a huge motivation to buy now. We are giving shoppers every incentive to pick up a Nintendo 3DS, from an amazing new price to a rapid-fire succession of great games,” shared, Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America President.
Also announced, was a strong line-up of titles ready for release later this year. Games like Super Mario 3D Land in November, Mario Kart 7 in December and Kid Icarus: Uprising during the holidays, are lined-up to launch for the 3DS.
With the Nintendo 3DS receiving price cuts, holiday plans of the company are quite clear but what remains to be seen is whether they’d be able to achieve them.