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SuperBanana
Banned
The struggle is real.
I know 3DS had a bit of a rough start, but this kind of turnaround is absolutely unprecedented and deserves all the praise that it (should) get.
PS3 went from wiping all of the profits out from PSX and PS2 to still trailing in 3rd by a hefty margin. I wouldn't exactly call that a success.
PS3 went from wiping all of the profits out from PSX and PS2 to still trailing in 3rd by a hefty margin. I wouldn't exactly call that a success.
Good Guy Gone Bad
Member
Not too unprecedented. See: PS3.
captmcblack
Member
Surprising...I know it's "handheld vs console"...but it's the goddamn PS2.
It's also Japan only.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_consoles_by_region#Japan
DS > GB/C > 3DS > PS2. Surprised to see the Wii "only" sold 12 million.
DS. I believe it's about 33 million there.
Second is Gameboy. Someone pointed out that it's the sales of combined Gameboy systems though.
CaviarMeths
Member
61.57m as of Sep 30. We'll get a new financial report from Nintendo at the end of next month, I think.
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
3DS is a beast
Psycho_Mantis
Banned
And yet it won't even sell more than the PSP WW. The change in markets is evident.
What are the global PSP numbers? PSP sold a lot even after Vita released. Switch releasing isn't the end of 3DS, especially in Japan.
The DS sales will probably never be touched ever again. I hope I'm wrong though.
As expected.
3DS sales were very good in Japan but disappointing abroad which is the main reason why it's going to fall short of both PSP and GBA worldwide by roughly 10 million units.
3DS sales were very good in Japan but disappointing abroad which is the main reason why it's going to fall short of both PSP and GBA worldwide by roughly 10 million units.
Considering the current state of the japanese market, I'm more wondering if any future system can achieve 20M (I hope so otherwise the market is fucked).
Its particularly crazy when you consider how much the PSP sold at the same time. Handheld market cratered pretty badly. Hopefully it doesnt get any worse.
Sgt. Kabukiman
Banned
I knew the 3DS was popular in Japan but not to that extent. Congrats Nintendo. Here's hoping that the Switch can achieve similar numbers.
As for the last known official shipment figure (march 2012): 76.3M.
But I believe it shipped a few more millions afterwards.
Total software sold as March 2012: 330.2M.
DS was the better system with a bigger impact on the market - also pre-smartphone invasion. All things considered 3DS did really well...especially after its launch. Iwata was right to drop the price as soon as he did.
Well it obviously won't because it's not portable enough
/s
I could see 3DS having a long tale life if Nintendo stops caring about firmware and it gets fully open to pirates. Isn't that more or less what happened with PSP?
Psycho_Mantis
Banned
Possumowner
Member
Now that's impressive against Ps2
Alex_Mexico
Member
You do know the PS3 eventually took over (or at least tied) with the 360 in worldwide sales right? The PS3 was a success and it ultimately made Sony money. It had a terrible launch but the 180 it did by the end of its lifespan was extraordinary.
Frankfurter
Member
Japan looks really solid for the 3DS. Unfortunately, the west not so much. It's still way below PSP overall.
freeofgreed
Member
IIRC PS3 ended up passing the 360 by the time last gen ended. I'd consider that quite the comeback.
Jo Shishido's Cheeks
Member
Just think of all the Streetpasses..... :'(
"Especially Japan" is actually the opposite of reality. Japan drops consoles quick. Look at DS post 3DS launch in Japan vs elsewhere.
Software will sell for awhile, but I expect 2017 to be way down from 2016.
Home console sales tanked in the 7th gen, and despite its huge success that affected the Wii as well.
captmcblack
Member
I know that...I am still surprised that anything that wasn't the regular DS could outsell PS2 in Japan. I was thinking that even though that gen was where the console downturn supposedly began, the PS2 still dominated all devices of any kind there.
Wasn't PSP outselling vita for months or years after vita was released?
Also, 3DS plays DS games. There's no reason wasting money on a product if the next gen version plays all the old games plus the new. Switch does not play 3DS games.
20M on future systems is very much achievable, so long as the right games come to that system, and of course it should be portable. It's going to be tough, but I'm not eliminating that possibility even if the Japanese dedicated gaming market is in bad shape.
clevbrowns94
Member
Really impressive numbers. The only reason that it won't match PSP or GBA worldwide numbers are because it didn't thrive in NA or Europe. But Japan sure carried its weight and then some for sales.
It won't really change much the fate of the 3DS on the West. But maybe that short surge of momentum carries over to the Switch.
LordRaptor
Member
How Nintendo handled the 3DS is one of the reasons I'm fairly bullish on Switch doing quite well. Because they were fucking ruthless about it.
Scheduling their big guns specifically to fuck up the Vita launch.
Aggressive price cuts that put them into a loss for, what, the first time in decades?, and a token "heres some old ROMs" as a 'basically costs us nothing' early adopter apology.
Targetted acquisition of key franchises like Monster Hunter.
I mean, that's what Nintendo not fucking around to make sure fetch happens looks like.
Scheduling their big guns specifically to fuck up the Vita launch.
Aggressive price cuts that put them into a loss for, what, the first time in decades?, and a token "heres some old ROMs" as a 'basically costs us nothing' early adopter apology.
Targetted acquisition of key franchises like Monster Hunter.
I mean, that's what Nintendo not fucking around to make sure fetch happens looks like.
I still think the high initial 3DS cost was a clever trick to get Sony to price Vita the way they did. When 3DS was still $250 and Sony announced at E3 the Vita would be $250 I thought 3DS was done for and Vita was gonna eat Nintendos lunch. Two months later Nintendo dropped the price by $70 and then proceeded to eat Sony's lunch. It was fascinating.
freeofgreed
Member
Hoping the switch can replicate the 3ds's success. I know western 3rd parties aren't comming back to Nintendo, but my hope is that japanese devs can flourish on the system, like they did with the 3ds.
LordRaptor
Member
I think it was more that they probably underpriced the Wii in retrospect (as scalpers across the planet will attest), and figured they could go higher with the 3DS markup after its fairly well received announcement.
freeofgreed
Member
I disagree. Maybe in the case of the ds/3ds but Japan doesn't let consoles die easily. PS2 was selling extremely well, well into the PS3 lifetime and the same thing is happening with the ps4. It's why so many japanese games are being released for both the PS3 and PS4 to this day.
metalslimer
Member
The Wii tanked because people stopped making games for it on a regular basis.