Nintendo details 3DS sales pace around the world, record-setting pace
This chart compares how various platforms boosted their total sales in the year from their respective launches in Japan, based on the data from Media Create.
In the beginning, the sales pace of the Nintendo 3DS (shown in red) was unsatisfactory, but it gained momentum after the price cut. In particular, in the year-end sales season, when popular titles such as “SUPER MARIO 3D LAND,” “Mario Kart 7,” “Monster Hunter 3 (Tri) G” (Japanese title) were released, the sales boosted as we had expected. I suppose most of you remember that there was news at the end of last year which reported that the total unit sales of the Nintendo 3DS reached four million faster than the Nintendo DS or the Wii. However, at that time, this pace was not the fastest in Japan’s video game history, since it was slower than that of the Game Boy Advance. But, the Nintendo 3DS did not lose its momentum even after the new year, and two weeks ago it broke the record of the fastest sales pace.
This is the data of the United States. This number only reflects sales in the U.S., and the sales in Canada or Latin America are not included. Since weekly data are not published by NPD, this chart is based on the data gathered by Nintendo. As you can see, the total unit sales reached four million in the year-end also in the U.S. No Monster Hunter title has been released for the Nintendo 3DS in the U.S., but we can see that the sales of the Nintendo 3DS grew rapidly in connection with the release of the two Mario titles.
However, the sales pace of the Nintendo DS was not very good in its first year in the U.S., so we cannot say “The Nintendo 3DS is selling steadily,” just by the fact that it is selling at a faster pace than the Nintendo DS. This is the sales transition of the Wii, and the total unit sales of the Nintendo 3DS exceeded those of the Wii at the end of last year.
We avoided the emergency situation that the Nintendo 3DS could not show its presence, and I believe that we laid the groundwork for its penetration.
This is the data of Europe. In Europe, the sales pace of the Nintendo DS in its first year was better than that of the U.S. due to the hit of “nintendogs,” but the sales pace of the Nintendo 3DS accelerated even faster than that after the release of the two Mario titles. And in December, the Nintendo 3DS took the top share of hardware unit sales in Europe, and the sales grew significantly.
In this way, the sales of the Nintendo 3DS grew largely in the year-end sales season when popular titles were released, and it could realize a faster sales pace than the Wii or the Nintendo DS.
Last summer, when the sales pace of the Nintendo 3DS was slow, there were extreme remarks saying, “With the penetration of smartphones, will there still be a market for handheld hardware?,” which was almost equal to “Handheld hardware is not necessary anymore.” I believe we proved that such opinions are incorrect.
However, on the other hand...
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