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DS market in decline, says Ubisoft

Maintaining market share is the goal right now

DS market in decline, says Ubisoft
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DS

Nintendo appeared to have taken something of a leaf from Sony's book recently, and begun paying less and less attention to its handheld consoles, the DS and (especially) the DSi. But the last couple of weeks have seen a small shift in that attitude, though according to Ubisoft the DS market is suffering (actually, it's still suffering).

Speaking to Gamesindustry.biz, UK boss Mark Slaughter has highlighted the current nature of the struggling dual-screen console.

"Overall, for everybody… there is a decline in the DS market in its entirety," he explained. "So instead of that being a growing market, within Ubisoft we have to find out how much of that pie we can actually defend."

The DS arm of the French gaming giant has felt the pinch during the recession, and has shifted its focus toward careful targeting of the most successful demographics, and forgone any current attempts to sell to more diverse areas of the market.

"There is still a massive installed base, so the market is still there – but I think you've got to be clever about what part of that market you're taking," he concluded.

But Sony has proven recently that with sincere enthusiasm from the first party, even aging hardware can recapture the public's attention. If Nintendo gets back on board, the DS's fortunes could still be recovered.

Spanner Spencer
Spanner Spencer
Yes. Spanner's his real name, and he's already heard that joke you just thought of. Although Spanner's not very good, he's quite fast, and that seems to be enough to keep him in a regular supply of free games and away from the depressing world of real work.