Want To Know Why Japan Isn’t Buying the Nintendo 3DS? Survey Says…

As anyone who is following the little device knows, the Nintendo 3DS isn’t selling like its last-gen incarnation or its console counterpart did at launch; meaning, it hasn’t been selling well. Over in Japan, normally Nintendo’s safe-haven, Sony’s PSP is regularly beating the 3DS on the sales chart, and Nintendo’s 3D handheld’s sales figures quickly dropped below half of what Sony’s seven-year-old handheld was managing. Goo Research set out to figure out why the 3DS wasn’t selling like Nintendo’s Wii and DS before it, and administered a survey to 1,110 people in Japan, 39.5% male and 60.5% female. Want to know why people aren’t buying the Nintendo 3DS?

1. The price is high and/or waiting for a price drop
2. Satisfied by the DS and/or DSi
3. Worried about eye strain
4. Worried about getting sick from the screen
5. Few launch titles
6. Will buy once a game I want is released
7. Satisfied by cell phone and smart phone games
8. Satisfied by PSP
9. The battery is weak
10. It’s heavy and I don’t feel like carrying it with me
11. Can’t play Game Boy Advance games
12. The color I want isn’t available
13. Can’t play Game Boy games
14. I’ll save my money for the NGP, thank you very much
15. Waiting for a version with a larger screen
16. Because you can’t move your DSi Points over
17. The buttons layout looks hard to use
18. No Famicon/NES in the Virtual Console
19. The zoom view for DS games is hard on the eyes
20. Waiting until my friends buy it

Not surprisingly, most of the top complaints seem to be a money or content issue, both of which can be said to be related to each other, in that one wouldn’t want to pay what they feel is a hefty price for something that won’t get much use. So, reader, do you have a Nintendo 3DS? No? Why not?

(Andriasang via Sean Malstrom)