Well they still would have higher hardware sales from people upgrading for the premium model. I would rather have 20k sale more units sold that were a higher priced model, than the same amount of units sold at lower price with a 2DS like unit. Also cheap hardware doesnt do much when the software prices are still considered quite high - at least thats the takeaway from the 2DS reception in europe/us. Its like they are 50 percent there, but as Nirolak said arent quite able to follow that direction through. This would also mean cheaper games - an official classic or best of series introducing older titles like Pilot Wings Resort or Nintendogs at a cheaper price.
Why do you think a higher priced model must have a higher win margin? It really depends on the cost to price rate. If, hypothetically, the 2DS parts are cheaper than the price would make you assume, they could theoretically make more profit on those models. Prices are also determined by what would seem acceptable to the customer, they aren't just cost plus a fixed mark up.
Case in point is how some gaming hardware is sold at cost or even at a loss. The win margins also fluctuate and aren't always transparent to us consumers.
Agreed - cheaper portables are the goal to maintain their place in the market. But again, cheaper hardware with quite high software prices wont change much i suspect. Especially since - just from a hardwarepoint the 2DS/3DS is a joke compared to most portable devices on the market right now. So its gonna be always about the software and i feel their offerings their have been lacking - this might work for their own stand-out titles but the larger part of the western market considers the software prices to high ( especially for retail eShop games) - and this wont change with the 2DS.
I see it that way - if i will end up spending multiple hundreds of euros to get my library going on i`ll want to play the games on the best system available, which also explains why the 3DS XL is pretty much the defacto 3DS system even if its more expensive. Thats would be like me getting the cheapest smartphone out there while spending big bucks on software in its Appstore. Thats doesnt seem as likely anymore with the current competition from f2b mobile games.
The 2DS will do little in Japan either, just soften the plummeting hardware sales. The 3DS already made most of its sales and no other platform will even come near it in Japan this gen. To use that #1 position to sell lots of software is what Nintendo needs to be doing.
The other important thing is that they don't leave the cheap side of the spectrum to the used market because when you buy hardware used you're likely to also buy software used. I repeat, better not fuel that market like Sony has been doing.
High software prices are less of a problem in Japan but of course they're very much connected to the used game market. The lower the expected sales, the higher the price. That's why 3rd party games are most expensive and most effected by the used market.
But Nintendo is best equipped to withstand the pressure from the used market and their real problem is the dwindling entry level audience. They have increasing problems capturing the young kids market which is an important base for Nintendo. So more important than the 2DS is reaching kids who don't grow up on Nintendo hardware.
