IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

Nintendo to Announce DS2 Within 8 Months, says Analyst

Posted January 14, 2010 by James Brightman

Nintendo's DS sold over 3.3 million units in the U.S. during December and the handheld remains as popular as ever. That said, everyone knows how much Nintendo loves to refresh its handheld business. With the iPhone and iPod Touch likely taking away some share and altering the distribution method in the portable space, Nintendo is no doubt already planning its next move.  EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich believes a DS2 is definitely coming by 2011 and Nintendo is likely to make the announcement within eight months.

"Even though the Nintendo DS posted a record year in 2009, EEDAR expects Nintendo to make an official announcement on the DS2 within the next eight months. Nintendo has always had a controlling stake in the handheld market, despite facing numerous competitors, and EEDAR believes one of the biggest reasons for Nintendo’s success in the handheld market is their ability to remove opportunity gaps for competitors to enter," Divnich noted. "Nintendo’s transition from the GBA to the DS, a year earlier than anticipated, was a brilliant strategy to remove any upper hand the Sony PSP could have by being first to market."

He continued, "Piracy continues to be an issue, not just for Nintendo, but for its third-party publishers as well. Whilst the release of the DSi has slowed down piracy, that slow down will only be temporary as hackers have already managed to bypass the new security systems built into the hardware. Additionally, many publishers including Sega, Capcom, and now Ubisoft have all expressed that they may be reducing their exposure to Nintendo’s consoles, which will likely lead to heavy declines in both hardware and software sales for the Nintendo DS. We believe that due to the aging technology, the possibility of new competitors in 2011, a decline in publisher support and piracy, Nintendo will launch a successor to the DS within the next 15 months, and likely announce such in the next eight months. Of course, this should not discourage anyone from buying new DS software, as any DS successor will most likely be backwards compatible."

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.