Nintendo DS - Best-selling game system in history

[garyopa]

Over 50 million units sold in USA alone, it has finally close the line of the Playstation brand

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“The Nintendo DS forever changed the gaming landscape, and the fact that consumers continue to embrace the platform is a testament to its value and mass appeal,” said Scott Moffitt of Nintendo

Nintendo DS, the little portable unit, just keeps going and going and going...

They report that finally have crossed the 50 million marker in sale, making it the best-selling system in USA history, outselling even their own Game Boy line, not to mention the original Playstation and even the previous record holder the PS2.



Nintendo also used its press release to tout recent sales of its Nintendo 3DS. In September, the handheld posted sales of 260,000 units, besting its August total by 10 percent. Amid months of poor sales, Nintendo drastically cut the price of the 3DS by $80 (to $170) in August. Since then, the tide appears to be turning for the system. Recently, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D became the first 3DS game to sell more than 500,000 copies in the United States.

Though Microsoft's Xbox 360 sales exceeded 430,000 units in September, Nintendo didn't have an all bad month. The Nintendo DS sold 145,000 units and the Wii sold 240,000, bringing Nintendo's total hardware sales for the month to 647,000. Not bad, but can the 3DS keep up the momentum?


NEWS SOURCE: 50 million units (via) DigitalTrends (http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/nintendo-ds-the-best-selling-game-system-in-u-s-history-with-50-million-units/)

[JonathanD]

I have been thinking about this for a while now, it's probably true. The DS is fairly cheap has a ton of games (many of them garbage but there are a ton of gems if you know where to look.) The graphics while not top of the line even when it came out do a decent enough job of conveying a story. Sound was pretty good with the built in speakers (I heard some complaints about the PSP in the department and to my ears the speakers did seem a little underpowered.)

My 4 DS's that I own all still work fine, 2 of them being launch units and 2 lites, so its fairly reliable, hinge breaking issues aside. I haven't experienced the issue myself but enough people have that it it must be more then just rumor.

So congrats go out to Nintendo for the #1 selling portable console of all time, and maybe with the Wii-U they will get the home console title as well.

I separate them since they seem like they should be a different category to me.

[billysastard]

hard to believe that if current sales figures continue its on target to be beaten by the "failing" 3ds since the 3ds is outselling the ds at this point in its lifecycle.

[JonathanD]

hard to believe that if current sales figures continue its on target to be beaten by the "failing" 3ds since the 3ds is outselling the ds at this point in its lifecycle.

I suspect the economy being down and people waiting to see what the new Vita is going to be like has something to do with slower than expected sales. You are correct in that its out selling the DS at the same point in time but at the same point in time the DS was actually getting some competition from the PSP and its sales where considered pretty low too, but Sony and third party publishers dropped the ball and failed to release enough games so people started buying DS's in droves.

I have zero question that the 3DS will outsell the Vita but I have to wonder if it will out sell the DS? Sort of a moot question moving from one gen to the next but its an interesting concept I guess dealing with growing the market and perhaps Sony doing better this time around. Not going to hold my breath on the Sony doing better part though...

Hmm being a publisher is a weird balancing act, profits would be better if you only had to publish for the main system so in a way it would be awesome for just one company to run everything, but at the same time when one company rules they tend to set licensing fee's way high.