Nintendo 3DS off to a "smooth start"

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 25 April, 2011

Global sales just over 3.6 million.

Nintendo has sold just over 3.6 million 3DS units to date.

The company said the handheld was off to a "smooth start".

1.06 million have been sold in Japan, 1.32 million in the Americas, and 1.23 million in "other", which includes Europe.

That makes for a global total of 3.61 million units.

9.43 million Nintendo 3DS games have been sold.

Nintendo released its end of financial year sales data today, and confirmed plans to launch a Wii successor in 2012.

In the 12 month period to the end of March 2011, Nintendo sold 17.52 million DS consoles and 15.08 million Wiis. Nintendo has now enjoyed 146.42 million DS and 86.01 million Wii sales to date.

It pointed to strong sales of the special edition red versions of Nintendo DSi XL and Wii, and the Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition.

Sales of Pokemon Black and Pokemon White were described as "robust in and out of Japan". Nintendo enjoyed "strong" sales of Super Mario Galaxy 2, Wii Party, Donkey Kong Country Returns, New Super Mario. Bros Wii and Wii Fit Plus.

However, Nintendo noted that sales for both hardware and software were down compared to the previous financial year. Sales were down 29.3 per cent, and profit was down a whopping 66.1 per cent.

It blamed tough comparisons – December 2009 was a record month - the price reduction of the DS and the appreciating yen.

Despite the launch of the 3DS and, next year, its Wii successor, Nintendo pledged to sell more DS and Wiis to those who don't already have them, highlighting the release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and the Wii's "long-selling evergreen titles".

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • TheNinkyNonk #1 1 year ago

    "and the Wii's "long-selling 'only ones worth buying cos they're not shovelware' titles".

    Fixed

  • davisorle #2 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012

  • streetmagix #3 1 year ago

    "and 1.23 million in "other", which includes Europe."
    That shows what *some* companies think of Europe then.

  • TheEarlOfZinger #4 1 year ago

    Buying a 3ds as soon as zelda hits. No sooner.

  • higgins78 #5 1 year ago

    "Nintendo pledged to sell more DS and Wiis to those who don't already have them, highlighting the release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword".

    Perhaps I have been misinformed but I last heard the Wii's successor will be backwards compatible, least I hope it is. 1 of the most underrated feature I enjoyed about the Wii was that I could keep all my Gamecube games and play them hassle free through my Wii...something Sony and Microsoft failed to grasp, instead making a whole previous generation of games redundant or complicated.
    Edited by higgins78 at 25/04/11 @ 09:46

  • Drygore #6 1 year ago

    Im surprised they've sold that many 3DS games, considering the semi-bad launch lineup. Nice. ( for the record, i've bought 4).

  • Toothball #7 1 year ago

    A 'smooth start' is encouraging, but it needs some more games on the horizon if it's going to pick up any momentum. I expect we'll see either way at E3 as usual.
    Edited by Toothball at 25/04/11 @ 09:53

  • barat #8 1 year ago

    Sold to retailers. Sell through is substantially lower.

  • richyroo #9 1 year ago

    Im waiting for Sonys portable before I commit to anything.

  • WinterSnowblind #10 1 year ago

    @barat
    Incorrect. There is a big difference between shipped to retailers and sold to consumers. Sony tend to give shipped figures, to make it sound like they're doing better than they actually are, here we are actually talking about units sold.

    Still, I think the system would be doing a lot better if it had launched with some better games and maybe for a slightly lower price. The DS and Wii worked really well for Nintendo because they were practically giving them away, I think they pushed their luck a bit too much with the 3DS.

  • DrStrangelove #11 1 year ago

    Nintendo 3DS is out now on 3DS.

    heh.

  • Kamata #12 1 year ago

    I heard it was causing nausea (similar to motion sickness) whilst playing? Or is all that bs?

  • CrumpledPaper #13 1 year ago

    About half that 3.6m must be sitting on store shelves. If you were down in HMV this weekend you'll see they're desperate to shift them.

  • roz123 #14 1 year ago

    It is global sales not the number shipped.

    @Kamata, yeh it makes some people feel dizzy at first because your eyes have to learn to focus properly on the 3d and find the right level on the slider for yourself. Its not that bad and after a couple of goes you get used to the 3d and the dizzyness goes away.
    Edited by roz123 at 25/04/11 @ 11:20

  • INSOMANiAC #15 1 year ago

    Not played mine for over a month, bring some more fucking games out!

  • Kamata #16 1 year ago

    @roz123 ah ok, cheers for clearing that up! :)

  • Eraysor #17 1 year ago

    When I used one, I found it almost impossible to even see the 3D effect anyway. As someone who has never been able to see one of those "magic eye" pictures, I obviously have shitty eyes!

  • giapel #18 1 year ago

    Some people will get dizzy. But then again, some people get dizzy from FPS, some by big explosion and fast paced holywood movies. Some get sore thumbs from analog sticks. Some have aching hands from wiimote. Some... you get my point. My main beef with 3DS is the relative narowness of the sweet spot. I'm almost certain it will imporve on the 3DSlite :/

  • playgen #19 1 year ago

    "The DS and Wii worked really well for Nintendo because they were practically giving them away"

    Ha, wasn't quite the case was it. Cheaper than the competition yes, but not cheap at all for the hardware spec.
    Edited by playgen at 25/04/11 @ 11:57

  • yrg_autumn #20 1 year ago

    they've only sold around three games per unit??

  • uknortherner2000 #21 1 year ago

    As long as there's a region lock on this thing, I won't buy it. All the best non-shovelware titles only seem to appear in Japan and the US, so where does that leave me in the UK with shitty UbiShaft shovelware? Region-locks are archaic in this day and age and totally nonsensical on a hand-held device.

    Lol - negged down for that? Oh, but of course - this is Eurogamer.
    Edited by uknortherner2000 at 25/04/11 @ 16:39

  • captain_Carl #22 1 year ago

    Lol at people who think it's sold to customers.

    Sony, MS and Ninty all report shipment figures on their fiscal reports.

  • FenderMaster #23 1 year ago

    buying a 3DS as soon as a great new game I haven't played before is released...

    so probably Super Mario Tanooki then!

    new I.Ps with strong characters wouldn't hurt either though...

    *edit*

    apologies Nintendo fans,

    Zelda OoT will be great, I can't wait to play it again!!

    If theres one think Nintendo needs more of, it's new entries in franchises they started in the mid 80's and early 90's! Fuck new franchises and characters, who needs those when you've got franchises as good as Zelda and Mario!
    Edited by FenderMaster at 25/04/11 @ 17:35

  • captain_Carl #24 1 year ago

    Being negged for facts, stay classy EG commenters!

  • GamesConnoisseur #25 1 year ago

    I love my 3DS but future doesnt bode well if we European only merits a mere 'other' and that along with other areas too. Not even important enough to rank a 3rd. So Nintendo clearly interested in Japan and USA above all else.

  • DFawkes #26 1 year ago

    When Nintendo say they've sold 3.6 million, they mean sold to consumers, not shipped. It makes more sense for them to publish it that way as those 3.6 million are the ones actually buying software - 3DSes on shelves aren't creating software sales at all until the point they get sold.

    They recently reported that 4 million had been shipped. That's probably less sold than they were expecting to be honest - they were hoping for sell outs yet there are still hundreds of thousands still in shops. Still, it's a solid enough start to keep developers interested for now, so we should hopefully see some interesting games being announced around E3 time :)

  • RawNinjaKid #27 1 year ago

    Nice to see we're contributing to Big N's "other" category!

    Edited by RawNinjaKid at 25/04/11 @ 20:46

  • captain_davey #28 1 year ago

    People thinking these are sold to consumers might want to recheck their facts

    As of this week, according to sales tracking firm media create (easily checked online at plenty of sites) 3ds has sold less that 900k total lifetime in japan, let alone as some people are claiming that theyve sold 1.06million by the end of march.

    Remeber last months US NPD numbers less than 400k

    These are shipped numbers! Just like Sony and Microsoft publish quarterly.