Nintendo fears 3DS price cut backlash
Worried fans "may lose trust".
Nintendo has acknowledged fans "may lose trust" in the company due to the unprecedented nature of its announced 3DS price cut.
The drop in sale price will see a third sliced off the 3DS' European price. It takes place 12th August, less than five months after the console launched.
"Never in Nintendo's history have we dropped a system's trade price so significantly," the company conceded.
"We are aware this may cause you, the loyal fans who supported Nintendo 3DS from the beginning, to lose trust in us, and this is not our intention in any way."
Nintendo attempted to pre-empt fan backlash by announcing a robust set of rewards for "Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors", or early adopters who bought the 3DS pre-price drop.
Addressing its Ambassadors, Nintendo admitted that "although we may not be able to completely prevent you from regretting purchasing Nintendo 3DS early, we would like to express our gratitude to our special customers like you".
The Ambassador program grants gamers 10 exclusive Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games for free, including Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare, Inc.: Minigame Mania and Mario vs. Donkey Kong. All ten will be released by the end of 2011.
That's on top of 10 free NES Virtual Console games, available before the general public get their hands on them, starting 1st September. The list features classics such as Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Jr., Balloon Fight, Ice Climber and The Legend of Zelda.