Today’s announcement of a February 2011 release for the Nintendo 3DS in Japan came as something of a surprise. While we all expected the system to come to the states next year, most analysts were predicting a late holiday launch for it in its home country. But while the decision was based on supply limitations according to Nintendo, at least one analyst believes it will help the system by assuring better third-party support at launch.
Industry Gamers reports that Nintendo President Satoru Iwata felt the company wouldn’t be able to produce enough units for a launch this year. That’s understandable considering they think it will sell four million in the first month alone. Unfortunately, that also means that we may see hardware shortages in the U.S. and Europe when it launches in March. “Given the later launch of the 3DS in Japan, we note that shipment quantities to the U.S. next spring might be more constrained than originally anticipated,” noted Colin Sebastian of Lazard Capital Markets.
But the news isn’t all bad. If you can get your hands on one, the push to next year may mean you’ll have more games to choose from. “We believe that a 2010 Holiday launch would severely impact both the quantity and quality of titles that could be made available by November 2010,” said analyst Jesse Divnich of Electronic Entertainment Design and Research. “EEDAR believes there is short term benefit (by not placing a third new device into the holiday line-up for consumers) and a long-term benefit (by allowing publishers and developers additional time to create compelling content) in the selected launch timing for the 3DS platform.”
