Nintendo still doesn't believe that the handheld market is shrinking

Nintendo's Satoru Iwata doesn't believe that the handheld market is shrinking, despite the fact that the 3DS (at least initially) and the PS Vita haven't been runaway success stories like some would have expected.

"I think a lot of this discussion is based on the premise that the handheld gaming device market is shrinking or vanishing and I don't think that is true and I'd like to address that," he told Kotaku in an interview.

"Something that Reggie [Fils-Aime] said at E3 was that the Nintendo 3DS hardware was selling more or faster than the DS, and I think that's something... that a lot of people are aware of. But something that Reggie also said is that the 3DS software sales were exceeding DS software sales."

Since the 3DS first went on sale 14 months ago, eager gamers have snapped up around 10.5 million units of 3DS software. This total does, indeed, exceed the number of DS titles purchased in the same period of time.

"I think this is proof that even though we see an increase in smartphones and tablets and whatnot and there's obviously a huge flood of games in the market, I think the software sales that Reggie alluded to and pointed out really prove that these people, even with this flood of free games and whatnot for these portable devices - [these] non-game-centric devices - are not keeping people from purchasing software for dedicated hardware," Ninty's current president said.

Just a little bit

Nintendo believes that the 3DS can satisfy hardcore and serious gamers, while smartphones, such as the iPhone, can only satisfy gamers who're looking for a bite-size time filler that they can play when they have five minutes spare.

"I think within games you have two needs that people fill. One is the time-filler need. The other is that it's a very important time for me and I want to have a rich experience. Those are two separate needs, I think," Iwata said.

"The other thing is how much are consumers willing to pay to play. I think that consumers who are willing to pay money for a gaming experience are looking for something that is more rich and are willing to spend some of that valuable time on that experience.

"I believe that as environments change and as the world progresses we're going to have different ways in which people want to spend their time. That being said, I don't think we're going to see the desire to have, again, rich and deep sort of gaming experiences... we're not going to see that vanish. That's not going to go away."