3DS Tops 5m Slower than Wii, DS, PS2 but faster than X360, PS3 - News
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 22 September 2011 / 11,921 Views
Nintendo's latest portable has topped 5m units through the week to September 17, 2011. The 3DS launched in late February in Japan and late March in the West. The question is 'How does that compare to other recent platforms' globally and regionally?
Compared to other recent systems in an aligned region by region launch, the 3DS has reached 5m units slower than Wii, PSP, PS2 and DS but faster than X360 and PS3. If 3DS were to continue to beat X360 / PS3 long term and remain behind DS, Wii, and PS2 (but not PSP) that would put the device on a pace for 80m - 160m lifetime, although its way way too early to project that far out.
Figures to date for 3DS are actually most similar to DS so far, which launched weakly after holiday 2004 but ramped up substantially from 2006 onwards.
Sales Globally Weeks in Americas Weeks in EMEAA Weeks in Japan
Wii 7.76m 25 (2.95m) 26 (2.08m) 29 (2.73m)
PS2 7.23m 25 (2.28m) 26 (1.85m) 29 (3.10m)
PSP 6.59m 25 (1.75m) 26 (3.34m) 29 (1.50m)
DS 5.47m 25 (2.04m) 26 (1.01m) 29 (2.42m)
3DS 5.04m 25 (1.74m) 26 (1.45m) 29 (1.85m)
PS3 3.89m 25 (1.44m) 26 (1.51m) 29 (0.94m)
X360 3.17m 25 (1.76m) 26 (1.27m) 29 (0.14m)
Had 3DS launched in even one region over November / December (as each other system above did in at least one region), it likely would have reached 5m units in a faster manner - and probably ended up at 5m between the pace of PSP and DS.
Given 3DS software development costs between Wii and DS, and a hardware launch comparable to the original DS, the 3DS now looks like it is on track to be a worthy successor to the DS line, even as it continues to trend slightly behind it. Japanese figures in particular should be explosive for 3DS over December 2011 - January 2012, and encourage the migration of further major projects to the system in coming months and years. As those projects make their way westward, 3DS should be able to fully recover from its rough start just as the original DS recovered from abysmal Western numbers in early and mid 2005.
Contact VGChartz at jmazel@vgchartz.com
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It's a marathon, not a sprint!
You should have told me before I blew my load. Anyways, the 3DS is looking fine now and I don't see it slowing down too much before the holiday season. Mario Kart and Super Mario Land will be the one-two combo for the holiday season.
@Boberman
If all it took was a price cut, then will everyone stop writing all these dumb articles about why 3DS was/is not successful? I knew it from before it launched, the price was too high in this economy. But hey, I always argued the technology was there, thee execution was to perfection, but the price was too steep considering the 360, Wii, and DS are all still major factors and cheaper. Thank you for proving my point, everyone.
Agreed. High price and lack of high quality, original games were its only significant downfalls. I only own 2 3DS games and they are both remakes because so far no big titles have been released. Very much looking forward to Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart, not only to play them but to see how the 3DS sales are effected. I remember when OoT was released there was a good boost in sales.
U can partially blame our friend Patcher (who thought Nintendo was selling the 3DS so cheap at $250) for the high launch price. Hopefully, Nintendo will start listening more to it's fanbase instead of stupid analyst. ahem maybe launch Xenoblade, LastStory and Pandora's tower now in the US?
The DS launched during the holidays while 3DS launched at a slow month and season. The 3DS didn't benefit from holiday sales like the DS did at launch.
Wow psp did some really amazing number in Europe its first months!!!
interesting. not really surprised.
Has nintendo confirmed this? if they haven't i would wait for Quarterly report.
Nintendo for the win... again..
But what about the hatters...?
Now they can't use low battery (same as psv)
They can't use the 3d viev (people have seen it i stores)
And they can't use salesnumbers. becurse they are better than ps3 and 360..
Where will the 3ds hatters go from here..?
I think they will try the "childish card" again..
Amen!..
Oh they will find some stupid excuse like 3DS sucks because it's a Nintendo system or it has Mario games. Oh ya I'm telling you the excuses will go more stupid as time goes by.,
I imagine that they'll wear a hat that outlines their anger.
Look at the huge gap between DS and PS2 sales then compare the gap in overall sales. The initial sales don't mean anything compared to the average sales across their lifetime.
The DS is still behind the PS2...
VGchartz has the PS2 undertracked
ITS DOOOMMMMMEEEEDDDDDDDDDD :O
And all it took was a massive price cut to make this happen.
The thing is, the DS picked up a lot later on. Will the 3DS also do the same?
it's looking that way so far. What's up with all the 3DS hate anyways? Do you have lazy eye condition or something that makes u so bummed over the handheld? just wondering?
But the 3DS doomed doomed I say! 5 million but not at a better pace than the 2 biggest selling systems of all time.
LOL dumb haters called it a failure as soon as it launched but just look at how its doing!By christmas it will be flying off the shelves!
I wonder how it compares with all systems to 10 mil? I think price was the major issue for the 3DS and it would be interesting to see how it compares at the price it should have been at launch.
Very interesting numbers. I would like to see figures after the new year after the effects of the price drop and holiday season to see how well it really is doing.
Do this again when the 3DS hits 10 million in about 9-10 weeks, and I bet it will be #2 on the list.
I don't think it's fair to compare 3DS with other systems that were launched during the holidays. 3DS did not benefit from holiday boost yet. However I appreciate the fact that you did mention it in your article.
I think that with a November / December launching window, the 3DS would have done similar to PS2 / Wii.
I wonder how it compares with all systems to 10 mil? I think price was the major issue for the 3DS and it would be interesting to see how it compares at the price it should have been at launch.
hahah notice how similar ds and 3ds sales are? its what i said before the DS had a big price drop about the time the psp came out and it came out also with i think mario kart ds or was it new super mario bros? but it came out with a big game and a price drop at the time the psp came out and within a few months the psp was done for. now the 3ds is in price position to do the same to the ps vita
Okay, now you've done your article for the 6 months sprint. Now, don't compare again before the 25m mark, please.
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The price cut was only in effect four weeks folks - it still would have been comparable but slightly above PS3 - particularly given PS3 launched over Christmas.
pezus you were right - edited the data accordingly. When I looked initially there was no PS3 data for the March 18 - 24 week for some reason in 2007 for EMEAA.
3DS reached 5 milliononly marginally slower then the DS, and like you said, it released in Spring, not Fall like the other consoles. That makes a big difference. Do this comparision after 1 solid year, lets see how the data differs.
Even though they must do price cut to achieve that, 3DS number still look good enough. All that's left right now is how much boost this holiday season can give to 3DS sales. And also from this, awesome launch from PSP, too bad it's already losing its steam right now....
different between 3ds and anything else in that list is that 3ds had to have a 40% price cut to get there............
I'm astonished how DS numbers just aren't that much higher than 3DS'.
It still doesn't compare apples to apples in this article. Yes, they're all games systems but the prices aren't similar. The only direct comparison for the 3DS is to the DS and PSP and maybe the Wii because of similar pricing. In the PS3 and 360 defense, they were heavily supply constrained upon their release and they were way more expensive than the 3DS.
well, you cant compare sales of 600$ PS3 to sales of 180$ 3DS?
Still too early. We don't really now what psv could do in the end of this year. And the launch of mario kart 7 and mario kart 3d is not good for 3ds 3rd party..
less than 70 million lifetime for sure...
Well considering that handheld consoles are dead in America, thats pretty damn close to matching the DS release numbers in that period.
no pezus, the PS3 was bleeding Sony dry during it's first few years according to previous official Sony statements and articles. I still don't buy the loss leading price at the moment. Seeing that it cost Nintendo $100 (at most) to manufacture the 3DS last feb and could have made further deals with the retailers and suppliers to bring cost/risk down. In any case, the Vita being a lot more advanced should be selling at a loss also if that is the situation. ( my opinion)
