3DS Sales Grow 50 Fold in Japan on Price Cut, Obon, and Pokemon - News
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 15 August 2011 / 8,237 Views
3DS has sold 207,000 units in Japan during the second week of August according to preliminary figures released by Media Create. Famitsu is reporting even greater sales over the same period - 215,000 units. During the previous week, Nintendo had sold about 4,000 3DS systems in Japan, and so the spike marks one the biggest single week lifts of all time in Japan. In addition to the 40% / 10,000 Yen price cut, the release of Pokemon Scramble, pent up demand from the two weeks between the price cut announcement and the price cut itself, as well as the Obon holiday likely contributed somewhat to the huge lift. The original DS, which sold over 100,000 per week in Japan for the majority of 2006-2007 (15m units in 104 weeks) had similarly massive up and down week to week movement during moments of supply issues, but its fairly rare to see a spike of more than 50,000 units in Japan at any point for any platform from one week to the next.
With sales of over 200,000 units this week, the 3DS base stands at over 1.5m units in Japan approximately six months in from launch, which bodes well for 3DS sales reaching 3m+ in Japan by February 26, 2012, a year in from its launch in 2011. With the huge week, 3DS is now trending about 10% ahead of PSP in an aligned launch scenario, and at 2/3 the DS pace, even though it has not had the benefit of selling in December / January just yet, when Japanese video game sales are strongest. If sales after this week hold at a good level leading up to Mario and Mario Kart in November and December, Nintendo will have a shot at selling 4m 3DS systems by March 2012. At the very least, next week should be over 100,000 units in Japan, since the price cut was only in effect for about half of the week to August 14.
3DS also now looks like it will substantially top 300,000 units this week globally - although our Western data has not yet arrived. Given global 3DS sales of under 40,000 in the prior week, the impact of the price cut looks pretty promising so far, and its hard to see 3DS dropping below 150,000 units per week (nearly doubling its previous baseline) in the near future given how long it will take, minimally, Japanese sales to erode.
Contact VGChartz at jmazel@vgchartz.com
More Articles
I'm actually happy 'bout this numbers, good to see growth in the industry. Can't wait for the holidays.
10 thumbs up , well done!
Now that the 3DS destroyed my predictions I will never underestimate nintendo's power to bring itself back up
You have to underestimate them.
Your right thats the only way nintendo does well
Oh yea, and I have contributed my small 1 unit amount for 3ds sold in the west.
well done nintendo!
News like this helps me laugh harder at people who say the 3DS has flopped, is flopping, or will flop eventually. Go flop yourselves out your window because this holiday season is going to be a insane.
Now that's funny XD
A combination of the PSV's at-a-loss price tag along with the 3DS having a subpar game library resulting in unfavorable sales (compared to the original ds) both took part in causing the price drop. Although the latter circumstance is evidence that Nintendo got off on a bad start, it does not indicate failure. It is not as primitive as Price Drop = Failure.
With the inevitable increase in the user base from the price drop and the excellent fall/holiday game lineup, it is easy to foresee success.
Waiting for "the haters" LOL
There was plenty of them commenting after your comment.
Thats good news for the gaming business. Hope 3ds sales will continue like this.
wow what a huge increase!! I didn't expect these numbers.. 3DS reborn
More than I ever expected for Japan after the price cut. Now it just needs the heavy hitters (Mario Kart, Super Mario) and it should show the critics that the 3DS isn't a failure. I am tired of reading about the smartphones destroying the hand-held market. Did they prevent some sales? I am sure.. However, they won't destroy the hand held anytime soon.
very happy with this announcement....it's somewhat of a bittersweet news as I have a feeling that the 3DS and PSV will be the last dedicated handheld gaming system coming from Nintendo and Sony. If IGN is to be believed tablet and smartphone gaming will replace and even cut the lifespan of both the 3DS and PSV. I hope their wrong and both NIntendo and Sony could recapture the market once again!!! 3DS in the sub $200 is a step in the right direction; NIntendo now show us what this baby can do.
Holy shit. I kind of felt like the price was the main problem. Unlike the Virtual Boy where the technology was not up to snuff, this is a fully functional system that seems to have major demand but with the sinking economy, pockets that are not as deep.
I tried to explain this many times, where I live, especially children want the console but parents see $250 USD and say, "too high... maybe Christmas" so maybe this new price is what will make the difference. As I said, the technology is excellent and I full on believed the price was thee only problem. Had it been released at $199 USD, they probably still would have gotten on fine. But this kind of price makes the new red one affordable for me and I already own two blue ones. Whoop Whoop Nintendo.
bye one of the biggest sony fan in the world...gongratz nintendo!
Yay!
This price cut plus Mario kart and super Mario 3d land, shall hold 3ds sales in the air.
even though the 3DS was release early this year, the "actual" release is in Nov/Dec with the release of some huge games :-)
This price cut plus Mario kart and super Mario 3d land, shall hold 3ds sales in the air.
Well, they're not safe yet. The game drought situation hasn't changed, and it will take a long time before it will. I'll think about getting one when Mario & Mario Kart are out.
You say a long time... Starfox in September, 3D Mario in Nov, Mario Kart in dec, Kid Icarus sometime in '11 and then a few titles announced already for 2012 (Paper mario, Luigi's mansion, Animal Crossing).
Holy crap, that was a completely unexpected, maybe it was just the price after all
This is how you bounce back up from a slump. Keep it up nintendo. Show all these haters how you mean business.
Let's reserve judgement until at least a few weeks have passed; I'd hate to see it stabilize only 5k above where it was before... :/
its not really a surprise its selling big now is it?,it will probably lead til next year
as a DS owner here, I'm going to hold off until they get themselves some good games first. price can only go down from here, without software, what is my rush again?
So 3DS sales jump by 5100%!
While the jump is huge, I think it will be only temporary because of the pricedrop. I wouldn't be surprised if the sales to drop under 100k in Japan next week.
A big (admittedly huge) increase is hardly surprising considering the large drop in price. The question is whether these huge sales will continue for a considerable time and maybe into the holidays, OR whether in a few weeks the sales figures will be back to where they were before the price drop (like the wii this year).
I'm pleased with the $80 price cut. But at the moment the only 3DS games I want to play are SMT: Overclocked (a remake of a DS game) and Tom Clancy: Shadow Wars. Maybe Super Street Fighter IV (a remake) and DOA: Dimensions. No interest in an Ocarina of Time remake and I'm not into Resident Evil. I could buy one but I have a feeling that the 3DS is going to get underused. Gaming is not the only hobby that I have in my free-time and I have a limited amount of time to devote towards each of my game system.
Right now I feel like I don't have much room for the 3DS. On the go, my Android smartphone is more than adequate for commutes, down-time, etc. I don't feel like carrying an extra device with me for gaming on the go when my Samsung Google Nexus S can already do a good job on the gaming end of things. Since going Android, I beat Game Dev Story and Eternal Legacy HD (rpg). And I'm currently about 8+ hours into Symphony of Eternity (rpg). I also have Zenonia 2 & 3 (action rpgs) and Inotia 3 (action rpg) in my backlog and I want to get Grand Prix Story and maybe Order & Chaos Online (WoW-clone MMORPG for your smartphone. But way, way cheaper). And there are more RPGs (free and paid) on Android Market to play. Smartphone gaming isn't just flash games anymore. And at home, I have the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii. And even now I still want to play DS and PSP games. And I get out the PS2 from time to time.
I could very well go without a dedicated game handheld this gen. Maybe I'm just getting older but I don't get hyped up for individual new releases as much anymore (I was so hyped for Catherine only to find it difficult to be motivated to continue because I find that the puzzles are tedious. Story can't carry a game completely). I would still consider getting the new Xbox and Playstation when they come out next gen to play with friends. But the 3DS or Vita? I may very well pass on those. I got the DS and PSP primarily for RPGs. The 3DS and Vita are going to have big shoes to fill in that department. I haven't run out of DS and PSP RPGs to play. And I don't buy into new game hype as much as I used to so even if the 3DS and Vita came out with new RPGs, I wouldn't feel as compelled to buy those systems just to play those. I could still see myself getting the 3DS and maybe Vita too. I'll see. Not exactly something that excites my interest at this point. At least the price is right for the 3DS. I'll give Nintendo that.
It's not just me. Dedicated gaming handhelds are becoming less and less relevant with the mainstream. That's why iOS/Android game revenue market share is increasing in the US portable gaming market while Nintendo and Sony market share is decreasing there. Home console gaming on the other hand has healthy market share outside Japan.
Well...
Great job Nintendo, making the 3DS competitive once again by providing a mainstream price. This will no doubt help the 3DS against the onslaught of android, iOS, and Window tablets that is currently on the market. Sony needs to up it's game as the PSV looks wayyyy too overpriced (compared the 3DS) and underpowered (compared to the tablets) in my opinion to compete in this brutal segment. It also lacks a killer app, or gimmick to differetiate itself from the other handheld device (3ds has glasses free 3d). Maybe PSV will come out and cut the price to $200?
I dont know if the 3DS is going sell like that here in America...A lot of the major retail stores don't appear to be advertising the price drop at all. Weird.....
Nintendo sales are strongest at America for all consoles of theirs
200,000 new DS owners who won't have any worthwhile games until late this year.
My prediction is that next week it drops to about 125k, followed by 70k for about another 2 weeks straight if that and then back down to about 25k weekly give or take (probably lower unless a MH, main pokemon or Mario comes out of nowhere).
LOL its like it was launched again. it will come back down in a few weeks.
What if it doesn't? you'll be saying ,wait till next week till it does drop.
