3DS beats DS year one sales numbers

Despite a troubled start to its life, Nintendo’s 3DS has after just eight months on the market beaten the year one sales numbers of its predecessor the DS.

In total the 3DS has now sold in excess of 2.37m units worldwide.

The achievement will go some way to silencing critics of the device, though of course it’s important to note that the potential market handheld gaming is in 2011 vastly larger than that which greeted the DS in 2004.

3DS has been having positive momentum since the digital content came onboard with the eShop, the launch of Ocarina of Time and obviously the price reduction,” Nintendo’s American COO Reggie Fils-Aime told Time.

We’ve been able to fuel that fire with Pokemon: Rumble Blast and Star Fox. What Mario did was bring a whole new range of consumers into the 3DS franchise.”

Following the recent release of key titles for the handheld such as Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 3D Land and tomorrow’s Mario Kart 7, Fils-Aime believes that a sustained software release schedule can drive 3DS onwards.

In this business, great, compelling software drives hardware,” he added. As long as we continue to make great content, we’ll continue to have very strong performing handhelds.

The second idea that it reinforces is that by really understanding our handhelds, we’re able to create games like Super Mario 3D Land, which really takes advantage of everything the technology has to offer.

So for us, we think what we’re seeing with 3DS and Super Mario 3D Land is a validation of our strategy, which says ‘We’re going to make great content, we’re going to make it uniquely for our platform’ and through that combination we’re going to drive the install base and compel consumers to make room in their pocketbooks for this dedicated technology.”