All About the Margins, Baby
It doesn’t take long just looking at the 2DS to realize its fit and finish isn’t exactly as luxurious as the 3DS XL, and even less so when compared to the original. That said, each 3DS rendition has gotten cheaper for Nintendo to make relative to its MSRP, and the 2DS takes that phenomenon to the polar extreme. The fit and finish is just one example, but this thing is absolutely doused in cost-cutting, profit-boosting design and manufacturing adjustments.
The most obvious place to start is found right in the system’s name; the 2DS does not support 3D. Now, let’s think about this for a moment. Nintendo consoles have been graphically a bit behind the competition since the Wii in 2006, and its handhelds have been following this practice for even longer. Though the Gameboy was always seen as a relatively powerful device, unlike the Wii and now Wii U, fallen competitors like the N-Gage easily trumped what Nintendo had to offer graphically. Of course, graphics on handhelds have come so far since then that its difficult to find much to complain about in terms of how games look on tiny screens. I replayed the first Super Mario Galaxy recently and was shocked to realize that between the 3D effect and the small screen, Super Mario 3D Land actually trumps it quite handily in the visuals department. Sure, Uncharted looks amazing on the Vita, but Fire Emblem looks glorious on the 3DS too. Though Vita wins out it the end, it’s almost apples to oranges territory.
Though lengthy, the above digression is an important one. It reminds us that the 3DS, despite looking lovely due to the device’s small screen, is not a graphical powerhouse. Its GPU is not what’s breaking Nintendo’s bank. What is breaking the bank is the system’s parallax barrier 3D display. The 2DS eliminates what is likely the biggest expense of the 3DS, leaving nothing more than a souped-up DS Lite in terms of visual presentation. Somehow I can’t imagine that costing a whole lot.
Additionally, it’s worth considering the fact that in order for the 3DS to display its pop-up visuals properly, everything must be rendered twice over – once for each eye. Ever wonder why Fire Emblem: Awakening has noticeable slowdown with 3D all the way on, but runs like a dream with it off? There’s your answer. We’ll never know one way or the other, but it’s entirely possible that Nintendo is actually using lesser components under the hood of the 2DS. Why wouldn’t they? Without the graphically taxing 3D effect to bog things down, cheap parts seem like a logical move.
Even if that’s not true and most of 2DS’s internals are identical, the cost-cutting adjustments against 3DS are still numerous. The system has no hinge, and is instead cased in a unibody plastic enclosure. It’s chunky and resembles a Fisher Price toy. The speakers on the device are mono-only, and to top it all off, there are rumors that the two screens are actually one massive panel underneath all the plastic. One massive, cheap, non-3D panel.
When you consider all of these possibilities, the 2DS may be the highest profit margin Nintendo’s ever had on a handheld device. Even if it’s not, the extremely appealing $130 price tag is the only reason for that.
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