If you’re one of the many that has held off on buying a 3DS (or maybe you just don’t want one), patience has certainly proved a virtue for you. Finding exact sales figures for the 3DS is not what you call easy, but it’s pretty obvious that $250 is too high for most people. As of August 12, the Nintendo 3DS will go for $169.99. This is a massive reduction (just under a third) of the original price.
You don’t need to think hard to find the problem handheld gaming has right now: there’s just not much demand for dedicated mobile gaming devices in a post smartphone era. With the upcoming PlayStation Vita launching at a much higher price, one can’t help but wonder if that will be dead on arrival. Granted, it does offer greater technical capabilities than the 3DS, but it’s still primarily a gaming device for use on the go, something that smartphones are getting increasingly capable of doing.
Early purchases of the 3DS will get something out of this though. Nintendo also announced a slew of free classic games from the NES and GameBoy Advance era that will be available for download. In order to qualify for these freebies you’ll need to own a 3DS and connect to the Nintendo eShop at least once before August 12 rolls around.