Nintendo 3DS Sees Record Sales in Japan, Passes 4 Million
By Yannick LeJacq | December 26, 2011 | News | No comments | Share
The 3DS, Nintendo’s latest handheld console, was not off to a great start earlier this year. With an expensive price tag and lack of interesting content, the portable device dipped in sales compared to its predecessor, leading some to claim that the inauspicious debut was a sign of Nintendo’s defeat in the handheld market at the hands (no pun intended) of smartphone games.
But no longer. In a recent report from Gamasutra, it was revealed that Nintendo has now sold over 4.1 million copies of the 3DS in Japan, achieving record sales figures of over half a million units last week. Two of the console’s games, meanwhile, reached the million mark.
Most sources credit the portable’s recent markdown in price, which was perfectly time for the holiday shopping season and the release of several landmark titles with improving the system’s recent fortune. Since its price cut, it has remained at number one for console sales despite the PS Vita’s launch last week.
Citing the Famitsu publisher Enterbrain, Gamasutra states that the 3DS’s largest sales figures are revealed to be from Japan, where it has sold more than 4 million units since its launch in the country in late February. The report states that the handheld’s biggest sales came during the holiday, selling some 510,000 unites in the week of December 19-25. The portable sold some 374,764 units in its debut weekend, but earlier this month, the 3DS reached new heights of over 378,114 units.
It’s performance was supported by the bolstered by the introduction of new color cases along with several acclaimed and enormously popular titles. Capcom’s classic Monster Hunter series, which has a huge audience and fan base in Japan, was introduced to the 3DS with Monster Hunter 3G earlier this month. The game has already sold over 730,000 copies, and Capcom has already revealed that it expects the title to sell over 1 million copies before the new year, saying that it has shipped supplied retailers according to those estimates. Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7, meanwhile, have each sold a million copies in the country since their respective releases earlier this year.
In North America, meanwhile, 3DS sales are also rapidly increasing. In November, they reached 1.65 million, Nintendo’s American branch has now predicted 3DS’s first-year sales will exceed those of the original DS.
