Nintendo announced a raft of new software on Tuesday as its attempted to prop up disappointing sales of its latest handheld games console, the 3DS, but there was no sign of the add-on accessory that games blogs have said is in the works.
Nintendo's shares slid about 6% on Tuesday, doing worse than the broader market, in a sign that investors are not convinced boosting content will enable the 3DS to fight off growing competition from smartphones and tablets.
It may also signal that 3D technologies - which were held up at the start of 2010 as a new way to encourage people to buy new laptops, TVs and consoles - are not grabbing the attention of buyers in the way that hardware makers had hoped.
Analyst reckon that 3DS sales will miss the company's 16m target by as many as 3.5m, even after prices were slashed by up to 40%. That would put the company's profits at its lowest levels for 26 years as it struggles to attract "social gamers" who are being lured by Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch, and games on Facebook's service.
Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata unveiled what he said was an unprecedented range of games, including some featuring the company's much-loved Mario character and others specifically aimed at attracting women, at an event held two days ahead of the Tokyo Game Show.
"From the end of this year to the beginning of next, we are planning the kind of extensive line-up that has probably never been seen before in the history of video games," Iwata said. "We will make an all-out effort to see that the 3DS sells enough to become the successor to the DS," he said.
That will be no easy task, given that earlier models of the DS had sold a cumulative total of about 148m units by the end of June this year. The gadget, along with the motion-controlled Wii home console, enabled Nintendo to dominate the industry for years.
But many casual gamers are now turning to smartphones and tablets, which offer cheaper content and multiple functions.
In July, Nintendo slashed the price of the 3DS, which features glasses-free 3D images, after sales shrivelled to just 710,000 units in April-June from 3.6m in the first month after its launch, and a tiny fraction of the 16m unit target for the year.
The company reported its first-ever quarterly operating loss and cut its full-year profit forecast far below market expectations, hit by sluggish sales and a strong yen.
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