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3DS Sells 4 Million Units in United States

by Patrick Barnett - January 3, 2012, 10:40 am EST
Total comments: 17

The system also receives its first million unit sellers.

Nintendo has revealed that the Nintendo 3DS has now sold over 4 Million Units in the United States. Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword have also sold more than 1 million copies each.

Nintendo credited the strong software lineup as one of the main reasons for the 3DS's 2011 success. The 3DS has now sold more units than the Wii did in their first nine months on the market.

Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 have each sold more than 1 million copies each. This makes them the first million unit sellers on the system. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword also sold more than 1 million copies making it the 45th Wii title to becoming a 1 million unit seller.

Nintendo 3DS Crosses 4 Million Mark

Driven by Fast-Selling Software Nintendo 3DS Sells More in its First Nine Months Than Wii Did.

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Whether they were on the go or at home, whether they played in 2D on the TV or in glasses-free 3D in their hands, gamers of all ages celebrated the holidays with Mario™ and Zelda™. Super Mario 3D Land™ and Mario Kart™ 7 for the Nintendo 3DS™ system not only became the fastest-selling titles in the history of their respective franchises when they launched, but they are now also the first Nintendo 3DS titles to sell 1 million units each in the United States. On the console side, The Legend of Zelda™: Skyward Sword, which also broke launch records, became the 45th Wii™ title to sell more than 1 million units in the United States.

“One of the strongest software lineups in our history helped Nintendo have a great holiday season and to close 2011 with a full head of steam,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Not only have the new Mario and Zelda titles already broken records, but with strong reviews and satisfied customers sharing their positive experiences, all three are also shaping up to be the latest long-tail titles from Nintendo. Couple that with a massive first- and third party lineup in the first part of the year and the prospects for 2012 are extremely promising.”

Nintendo sold more than 12 million total hardware units in the United States in 2011, marking the fifth year in a row that the company has accomplished that feat. This includes more than 4.5 million units of Wii, more than 4 million Nintendo 3DS systems, and more than 3.4 million units of the Nintendo DS™ family of systems. This brings the installed base for Wii and Nintendo DS to 39 million and more than 51 million, respectively.

With a strong lineup of software on the horizon, including new installments in the Mario Party™, Pokémon™ and Kid Icarus™ franchises, as well as third-party games such as Resident Evil® Revelations from Capcom and METAL GEAR SOLID® 3D Snake Eater from Konami for Nintendo 3DS, that momentum should continue into the first quarter of 2012 and beyond.

In addition to the milestones reached by new software, two evergreen Nintendo titles celebrated milestones as 2011 drew to a close. Mario Kart Wii™ passed 11 million units sold and New Super Mario Bros.™ for the Nintendo DS family crossed 10 million total units sold.

Remember that Wii and Nintendo 3DS feature parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit http://www.nintendo.com/wii or http://www.nintendo.com/3ds.

Talkback

CericJanuary 03, 2012

I wonder how far this goes to nullifying there Losses.
I also wonder if the Wii was constrained not by demand but by Nintendo's ability to produce units.

BlackNMild2k1January 03, 2012

This means that the 3DS sold over 1.5 million units in Dec.
and that the Wii sold about 1.1 million+ in Dec.

Sounds like a really good month for Nintendo.

IGamesJanuary 03, 2012

So, either way, Nintendo is raking in money.

KITT 10KJanuary 03, 2012

Now to see if the Wii U can do as well when it's time for it to have it's turn on the center stage as Nintendo's main console.

fordrobJanuary 03, 2012

In addition to the twenty free games, hopefully we Ambassadors will further mitigate our losses by benefiting from an otherwise lower Wii U price than we would have seen if 3DS sales hadn't tanked early on.

NintendoFanboyJanuary 03, 2012

Nintendo is SSSOOOOOO DOOMED!
4 million units, thats all, cearly 37 million behind the DS means that nintendo
shouild just give up and go third party.
Really, only 3  1 Million sells this holiday season.
Obviously, Nintendo cant touch games like CoD IV and Resistance 3 on trhe REAL consoles.

Does that sound about right for What the Nintendo Haters will say? GO NINTENDO GO!

NWR_pap64Pedro Hernandez, Contributing WriterJanuary 03, 2012

Quote from: NintendoFanboy

Nintendo is SSSOOOOOO DOOMED!
4 million units, thats all, cearly 37 million behind the DS means that nintendo
shouild just give up and go third party.
Really, only 3  1 Million sells this holiday season.
Obviously, Nintendo cant touch games like CoD IV and Resistance 3 on trhe REAL consoles.

Does that sound about right for What the Nintendo Haters will say? GO NINTENDO GO!

NINTENDO IS DOOMED!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_49iNqxOnH4

Nintendoomed will be in the dictionary by the end of 2012.

At this point I find the people constantly bitching about the "Nintendo haters" far more annoying than the haters themselves.

Mop it upJanuary 03, 2012

Seriously. At this point, I don't think I've seen a legit "Nintendo is doomed" response in months, they've all been sarcasm or satire.

DiscostewJanuary 03, 2012

Quote from: Shaymin

Nintendoomed will be in the dictionary by the end of 2012.

Only if we're still around after Dec 21st. :P

UncleBobRichard Cook, Guest ContributorJanuary 03, 2012

Quote from: Discostew

Quote from: Shaymin

Nintendoomed will be in the dictionary by the end of 2012.

Only if we're still around after Dec 21st. :P

Oh, shiet... we're all doomed...

motangJanuary 03, 2012

Those are some impressive numbers! Way to go Nintendo!  ;D

Chocobo_RiderJanuary 04, 2012

Quote from: Mop

Seriously. At this point, I don't think I've seen a legit "Nintendo is doomed" response in months, they've all been sarcasm or satire.

You're right.  A lot of media outlets have reinstated their policy of merely ignoring Nintendo in times of success.  :P: :D

But really, given how people over-react negatively to Nintendo, there's really no limit to the amount of sarcastic DOOOOM predictions they deserve.  ;D

~~~

On a tangentially related note...

GAMERS: "Wii game X came out and its awesome!"
MEDIA: "Who cares? The Wii sales are way too high to be anything but a casual fad. Not worth paying attention to."
~OR~
"Who cares? The Wii sales are a fraction of what they used to be.  It's dead. Not worth paying attention to."
GAMES: "Oh... I... guess you're right... ?"

Meanwhile...

MEDIA: "Sony game X is awesome!"
GAMERS: "The PS3 has been in third place nearly this entirely console generation."
MEDIA: "Who the hell cares about sales figures? We have awesome games to play!!"
GAMERS: "Yea! You're right!"

NintendoFanboyJanuary 04, 2012

Yea, WiiU before 12/21/12?
lol yea, when Nintendo sells well, Who cares about #, when they make a mistake,
like earlier this yr, its all they are doomed.
There is a reason i'm an older Nintendo game player. And why most of the
CoD players, seem to be kids.
I think 4 million in less then a Year is awesome, Add another 4 next year etc...

roykoopa64January 04, 2012

Excellent news! Hope this means more StreetPasses for me (if people remember to turn that feature on, that is...)

Ian SaneJanuary 04, 2012

I'd rather see Nintendo do okay at best with a product that appeals to me than to have tons of financial success with one that does not.  Nintendo doing gangbusters with casuals is essentially no different than going under in regards to my life.  But with the 3DS the world is actually as it should be.  When it was overpriced and had jack shit for games it underperformed and then bounced back when it became reasonably priced and got some great games for it.

What would be nice however would be if Nintendo had the best selling system that also had the best third party support and had what was widely considered the best selection of games by core gamer standards.  If they can do that then we'll have less "Nintendo haters" and "Nintendo hater haters".  No fanboyism, no "core vs. casual" mentality, no endless bickering and no controversy.  Just make a great system that is successful and deserves it - like EVERY market leading console EVER except for the Wii.

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