Nintendo has revealed that the 3DS sold just under 400,000 units in its first week in the United States, failing to meet analyst predictions of 500,000 to 750,000 sales.
The company wouldn't give a specific figure, but said the system sold 100,000 units less than the DS did during its launch month. With the DS selling 480,000 during its first month, that would put the 3DS somewhere in the 380,000 range.
In Europe, the system sold 303,000 in its first weekend, while in Japan, 371,000 were snapped up in two days. It's worth noting, however, that sales have dropped dramatically in Nintendo's homeland, with the PSP already outselling the 3D handheld.
The 3DS has definitely failed to meet the inflated expectations of the pundits, but it's too early to count Nintendo out for the long game. It's definitely looking like Nintendo will have a tougher time with the 3DS than the DS, however. Stiffer competition, and an avalanche of bad press, has not made for an easy run so far.
Nintendo 3DS Sells Just Under 400,000 In First Week Of U.S. Sales [Gamasutra]
Contest:
9:20 AM on 04.15.2011 | 
The extra competition doesn't help either. Nintendo really needs to do something in their marketing to let consumers know that the gaming experience on the 3DS is different than the one on mobile devices and that it's something they want.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
*blows brains out
I bought a 3DS and I love it. SSFIV for the fucking win! Thing is damn expensive though.
But it isn't and it's not.
Anyways, the amount of people who don't know what a 3DS is is staggering. The amount of people I've meet at my store who ask "Does it have Angry Birds?" and then back the fuck out of the sale, even moreso.
Nonetheless I still say that'll change come holiday season. You put it into the hands of your early adopters, let them basically do your marketing for you, and come out the gate kicking and screaming during Q4 2011 when it really matters. Nintendo's not stupid. They know what they're doing.
1. The 3D is the major selling point, but is getting bad press for apparently ruing kid's eyes (regardless of any truth behind that)
2. $300 (systen + game+ tax) seems a bit high for a portable, especially when you consider the above.
It will be interesting to see what Nintendo does to remedy this by Christmas.
Let's see what happens during the holiday season.
NO GAEMS.
We all know as well as anyone, software sells hardware. Nintendo seem to have latched onto their exception to the rule, the Wii.
Still, I would imagine the changing market has a little something to do with this, and despite being personally HYPE about it, I'm pretty sure that the NGP will sell even less.
Only difference is that it will be AWESOME.
Is the 3DS really getting bad press? The Sun seriously does not count, because anyone who believes rags like that wasn't going to buy one anyway. I think it's just that 3D is a gimmick that just does not resonate with people yet, at least not from watching people on TV going WOW and looking behind the screen for some reason. Word of mouth might change that, like it did for the Wii's motion control gimmick, but that's hard to predict.
The truth is that, once you strip away the 3D, the 3DS is just a more powerful DS, and one that underwhelms when compared to other current mobile devices in terms of hardware. A lot of people who have a DS are going to pass on the 3DS, at least until a huge title drops, and a lot of other people are going to use that $250 on a smart phone or a tablet. It's undoubtedly a more crowded market now than when the DS released.
I guess this shows that releasing a handheld that costs as much as a console is a very tough sell when you don't have the software to support it.
I am sure they are turning a profit on every one of those 400k, so I doubt they are concerned at this point.
And as everyone else basically said, when the real games come rolling and holiday time... I'm sure they will be just fine.
Maybe a price drop...lol
I think it's a portable console that will pick up sales with the release of good games and the spread of more word of mouth.
Its the same exact price as a PSP was in 2005, so I don't get how people think its so expensive. Plus do you watch TV? I have seen the 3DS commercials like 5 different times last night, just from watching the NHL Playoffs and flipping through other channels. Plus in the US Target has their own specific 3DS commercial and so does GameStop for a trade-in deal. So how is having 4 different TV ads, having little marketing?
On a side note, I get a kick out of people proclaiming that selling almost 400,000 units in its first week, means that the system will be a failure forever. So when the PS3 sold only 197,000 units its first month in the US, does that mean its a failure now. Sony just announcing that it has sold 50 million units, would beg to differ.
How about the XboX 360 only selling 326,000 units in its first month? So is the 360 a failure now? Its still way behind the Wii, but selling selling 53 million is no slouch. The Wii itself sold only 476,000 units, in its first month, so not much more than a 3DS either and it has now sold over 86 million units. The all might DS only sold 100,000 units more and it has gone on to become the best selling system of all time, with 146 million units sold. So in the long run will 100,000 units difference in a launch matter? Probably not, in the slightest!
OH HAI GUYZ
Seriously, why judge a systems validity on sales numbers and sensationalist press? Judge it on the games. They are lacking right now. They might pick up steam. Why does there need to be any more analysis right now?
The PS2 sold 150 Million, so that make the PS2 the best selling system so far. But I like your Fanboy enthusiasm for Nintendo.
@Hugh: It's still the 2nd highest selling system ever, so even if his factual info is wrong, he still has a point.
Sure no one is arguing that. Nintendo knows how to be innovative, i will give them that. But it's usually the case that the First to come out with something, may sell the most, but is usually not the best. It take a while to work out the kinks and others can learn from their mistakes.
3DS is cool, but again it's the first glasses free 3D device. Although it may sell well, the 3D feature is not perfect, and probably will be surpassed.
considering this did what it did during a non holiday thats kinda amzing
Honestly, I don't even know where you get this "butthurt" thing from. D'toid has had plenty of good to say about the system. Reporting that they sold less than people expected? That's a fact. Saying that there isn't a lot of content for it yet? Also a fact. Any judgement or criticism you're reading into that is pure projection, my friend. D'toid, like most reasonable people feels that it's too soon to pass judgement on the 3DS and it says as much in this very article.
You could have got the superior Xbox/PS3 version (and the console, if required) for less than a 3DS and the game. Then you could use a proper fight pad or arcade stick if you wanted and get it upgraded to Arcade Edition in a while. Now you're stuck with a little tiny version of it on a terrible controller lacking 4 characters and all the balancing and tweaking that's in the AE.
Also, I have a feeling N may enter the Sega-Zone soon if you know what I mean. This and the new console seem like they have terrible timing. We'll just have to see. It's gonna be an interesting year.
+
b) no games
+
c) mid-March release
=
d) decent launch with explosion in November
Once there is a run on systems and you cannot simply run down to Wally World and grab one up...then its on like donkey kong.
Can you imagine when Nintendo actually puts out the next Pokemon (or its equivalent)? Do you think gamers will be like, "nah, i'm cool with black and white for the next 5 years."?
Also the 3DS not selling is simply because of a lack of games, in fact I don't think it was pushed out at a good time at all. Should've waited for Summer or early Fall, that's a better period.
Mostly if this is really something they'll worry about they should think about doing what they said in an itawa asks interview before the 3DS came out and really make the system the definitive system handheld instead of redoing it every year or two, making it something people would have to buy instead of saying "well I'll wait till the next iteration". They need to make it known, and stick to, this being THE 3DS, not just A 3DS.
Next they'd need to do better marketing, which granted was possibly the toughest part of this since there's no way they could show the 3D without giving people a system to play with first (there were still too few tech demos for this before hand, for too short a time, before the launch I feel); at best all they could really show was a bunch of people acting like they loved the visuals -not entirely effective.
And finally (but the list probably could go on, I'm sure) they should have learned here not to base pricing on public/media reaction, because not only have the actual sales numbers seemed to have kicked them in the ass but the media turning on the technology in the 11th hour did as well. Again, the Wii's pricing was its biggest draw and hearing that the 3DS only really costs something like $101 to make is a big knock to those on the fence about the system.. There's only so much excitement people can take before they feel ripped off.
On a side note, I was watching Access Hollywood about a week or so ago, some long interview they did with Charlie Sheen (I can't help but gawk at a train wreck) and they did a short something else towards the end of it talking about how stars were at some event.. yadda yadda.. and they were talking about how the stars got to play with the 3DS... but Shaun Robinson (one of the hosts of Access Hollywood) kept calling the 3DS the "DS 3" not once but every single time she had to say the systems name.. So, if I were Nintendo, I would have been furious. Surely even if this were just some free advertising/name dropping the fact that they were getting the name wrong, and thus confusing anyone who didn't know better who might have gone looking for the item, isn't the best for their marketing. If it wasn't free advertising/name dropping, well, Nintendo probably made someone fry over it.
have you been reading dtoid lately? i've seen at least half a dozen articles in the last week on this blog that naysay the system. i'm not saying that dtoid is the worst offender (as they aren't), BUT all this nintendo negativity is fanboyism itself rearing it's ugly head. i'm just saying give the thing a chance. i bought 3ds on launch day, and STILL haven't found a reason to put it down. so with my real world experience, i'd say that these criticisms are at best, unfounded. 400,000 units moved in the first week is not a bad thing.