Nintendo Will Face 3DS Shortages Due To Pricing, Analyst Says

At the end of September, Nintendo's boss Satoru Iwata said that he was confident in the Nintendo 3DS, the portable gaming unit that's able to play 3D games and movies without the need of 3D glasses. And after the initial announcement about the device, the praise that Nintendo was seeing regarding the upcoming handheld was so promising, that he said the "high price point" of the 3DS in Japan, priced at $300, was due to those glowing initial reviews. Now that the 3DS has an official release date and price in the United States (with an apparent mark-up in the United Kingdom), people are wondering if the $250 price point is too high for Nintendo. One analyst believes it's way too low, and Nintendo should be getting ready to suffer because of it.

In a recent interview with IndustryGamer, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter envisioned a world where people would not be able to find a Nintendo 3DS in a store throughout 2011. Why? Because of the low price point. He says that the $250 mark will seem like a bargain to the majority of consumers, and therefore they will just "scoop them all up." He says that the price is "not shareholder friendly, but consumers are going to love the $249 price point."

According to Pachter, a $300 price tag would have made more sense to consumers, especially considering all of the things the Nintendo 3DS can do. Of course, running out of consoles is something that Nintendo has grown accustomed to. Finding a Wii was almost impossible during its initial launch, and well into the future. So, will Pachter be right, and will we see 3DS units show up on eBay for $500?

[via CNET]