First 3DS sales were great , then not so much , and now things appear to be evening out somewhere around “normal.” In keeping with numbers released by Nintendo, the fledgling handheld is poised to wreck the unique DS’ first year sales numbers — closing out its 8th month with 1.65 million units sold, or roughly 69 percent of its predecessor’s 2.37 million first year sales. Noting that 1/2 the old DS’ year one sales were made in the course of the holiday season, Nintendo is confident the 3DS will surpass its predecessor’s numbers before hitting the single year mark. We’ll allow you to make your individual predictions — Nintendo’s press release is after the break, so as to compare notes.
NINTENDO 3DS POISED TO SURPASS FIRST-YEAR SALES OF NINTENDO DS
In its eighth month for sale, the Nintendo 3DS™ system crossed 1.65 million units sold within the U.S., in line with the NPD Group, which tracks game sales within the U.s.. This milestone puts the platform on course to surpass the 1st-year total of Nintendo DS™, the simplest-selling game platform in U.S. history.
The Nintendo DS system sold 2.37 million units in its first twelve months (November 2004-October 2005), with approximately 50 percent of these sales occurring within the holiday time period. With its first holiday season and the launches of the Super Mario 3D Land™ and Mario Kart™ 7 games at the horizon, Nintendo 3DS is poised to eclipse that number and establish a brand new benchmark for hand-held gaming launches within the U.s..
“With a tremendous lineup of software at the way and the primary-year sales record of Nintendo DS in its sights, Nintendo 3DS enters its first holiday season with a whole head of steam,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vp of Sales & Marketing.
Other Nintendo news from the month includes:
• Nintendo sold greater than 675,000 combined hardware units in October. This includes greater than 250,000 units of Nintendo 3DS, nearly 250,000 Wii™ systems and nearly 180,000 units of the Nintendo DS family of systems.
• For the year, Nintendo has sold a combined 7 million hardware units and greater than 55 million units of software were sold for Nintendo platforms. Either one of these numbers should increase with the Nov. 20 launch of The Legend of Zelda™: Skyward Sword for Wii.
• Both Wii, up 8 percent year over year, and Nintendo DS, up 23 percent over the former month, demonstrated strong momentum heading into their respective sixth and eighth holiday seasons. In total, both platforms have sold greater than 87 million combined hardware units and greater than 540 million combined units of software within the U.s..
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