Nintendo slashes the price of the 3DS

Come August, and 3DS will yield a much smaller hole in your wallet. Nintendo will be cutting down the prices of the 3DS up to 40% in territories worldwide, starting from Japan.

The Nintendo 3DS will be sold for 15,000 Yen instead of its current price of 25,000 Yen from August 11th. While, in the US, the depreciation will be of $80 with the new price being $169, from August 12th.

Nintendo has explained that the decision was made in order to increase the console’s penetration among gamers and to makeup for the lack of titles. While the price cut is surely splendid news for gamers, it’s rather surprising considering it’s only been 6 months since the handheld’s launch.

“It is clear from our market research that many people feel that they ‘want’ and ‘want to buy’ Nintendo 3DS, and the latest demand for this device is the largest in comparison with our previous new platforms at the time of their launches. But on the other hand, there is a big proposition that not that many people believe ‘Now is the time to buy it!’ The penetration will not gain speed without overcoming this challenge

There might be consumers who are interested in Nintendo 3DS, but they are unable to find software which they want to play, and they are in the ‘wait-and-see mode’.”

It will be interesting to see how the 3DS  fares against the PS Vita, considering that both of them were initially priced around the same . Nintendo has yet to confirm the new price in PAL regions, but there will be a price cut of approximately a third.