Nintendo DS Losing Ground to Smartphone Gaming
If Nintendo wasn’t already afraid of the effects smartphones would have on the handheld gaming market, a new report from Flurry Analytics should have them shaking in their boots. According to the report, the Nintendo DS slipped from a 70 percent share in 2009 down to a 57 percent share in 2010 while the combined forces of Android and iOS grew to make up 34 percent of the handheld gaming market in 2010.
Even with the generally warm reception of the Nintendo 3DS, this new set of data further confirms the threat that smartphone gaming poses to the conventional handheld market. Multi-puprose hardware, cheaper software, and a greater selection of casual titles go directly against the model Nintendo has developed with their proprietary hardware and pricey game cartridges. Nintendo isn’t dumb to the notion, however. The manufacturer has at least acknowledged that companies like Apple could become a greater challenge in the market than traditional rivals like Sony and Microsoft.
[via CNET]