Is Lack of Software Hindering DSi?

There is a somewhat stunning report which has just come in from Don McCabe, who is the MD of independent retailer Chips. He says that the “lack of unique software” for the handheld is causing it to be hindered.

McCabe explained that he sold out of DSi only on pre-orders, but the free units were more difficult to sell than he initially expected:

“We did get a couple of cancellations where people moved from deal to deal. There’s a few [retailers] that obviously didn’t sell everything that they needed to and so consequently started doing a few deals, which was a bit irksome. The ones that were cancelled, we weren’t getting much interest in. It’s a bit of a strange one really… because the feeling we get from customers is that they don’t know exactly why they should buy it. It feels a bit PSPish – its got these capabilities, but you just don’t see an app for it as such at the moment.”

He continued to say:  “I think it has sold because people love Nintendo, they think that anything that Nintendo does is good, I think people bought it but not knowing why they bought it. As far as the independent sector goes we were very tightly allocated, there wasn’t a shed load of stock out there. But in some respects I think that wasn’t too bad a thing, because had we been in a situation where we could buy freely I think I’d be sat on stock now.”

McCabe maintained that he was looking into the future, past the short term hype surrounding the portable device. He also expressed his concerns that the Nintendo DSi Shop would impact on retailers. He explained that once the DSi was sold, they were effectively “giving the customers away”, as there would be no need to return to purchase games due to the DSi having it’s own online game store. He added:

“I thought it was quite cunning that Nintendo didn’t actually roll out their DSi store until after the launch.  It’s a cautious approach on the DSi at the moment.”