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Nintendo Targets Japan Sales of 5 Million 3DS Units in 2013

T

Tripon

Member
Nintendo Co. (7974), the world’s largest maker of video game machines, is targeting sales of more than 5 million of its 3DS handheld console units in Japan this year.

President Satoru Iwata gave the sales target at a Capcom Co. (9697) event in Tokyo today, adding the company sold more than 5.5 million units last year. Nintendo, which has forecast global 3DS sales of 18 million this fiscal year, up from 13.95 million last year, plans to introduce a series of titles after Capcom’s “Monster Hunter 4,” he said. The game is slated for release in Japan Sept. 14.

Iwata took the helm of U.S. operations to drive sales growth at the creator of Super Mario before Sony Corp. (6758) and Microsoft Corp. introduce new consoles for this year’s holiday shopping season. The Kyoto, Japan-based company plans to introduce the latest version of “Pokemon” in October and “Mario Party” by the end of this year to compete with games played on Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone and other mobile devices.
“There are more and more media reports suggesting that things aren’t going very well for the dedicated gaming hardware business,” Iwata said. “But that’s not true, at least for the 3DS in Japan.” The only other machine that topped annual sales of 5 million units in the country is the 3DS’s predecessor, he said.
Click to expand...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...c-sales-of-5-million-3ds-units-this-year.html
 
P

Phazon

Member
“There are more and more media reports suggesting that things aren’t going very well for the dedicated gaming hardware business,” Iwata said. “But that’s not true, at least for the 3DS in Japan.” The only other machine that topped annual sales of 5 million units in the country is the 3DS’s predecessor, he said.

No shit, Iwata :p
Please try to figure out what you're going to do with the Wii U and keep doing what you're doing now with the 3DS :)
 
A

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
the 3DS already sold 2.3 millions this year in Japan up to now (YTD), so, considering how high will the sales be from now on (both because usually during Oct-Nov-Dec sales go up a lot and because they'll release MH4 and the new Pokemon) I think that they will hit this milestone
 
G

gngf123

Member
But is it enough to save the 3DS?

But seriously, I'm really interested to see how high weekly sales figures go when Pokemon/Monster Hunter hit.
 
S

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
Nintendo Targets Japan Sales of 5 Million Wii U Units For Its Lifetime.

(next week's title).
 
S

SmokyDave

Member
President Satoru Iwata gave the sales target at a Capcom Co. (9697) event in Tokyo today, adding the company sold more than 5.5 million units last year.
Click to expand...
Pokemon + Monster Hunter = yearly decline?

Am I reading that wrong?

Anyway, seems like a perfectly reasonable target.
 
A

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
IncandescentPrecept said:
So, they expect to sell less 3DS this year than the last (5.5M)?
Click to expand...

SmokyDave said:
Pokemon + Monster Hunter = yearly decline?
Am I reading that wrong?
Anyway, seems like a perfectly reasonable target.
Click to expand...

Last year they launched the 3DSXL and are now behind last year YTD of 400K more or less.
so, I think that they are doing a reasonable projection that could be even surpassed due to its, in fact, credibility.
 
M

Moral Panic

Member
Depends on how well Pokemon and MH4 do. Most seem to have very high expectations so it should be ok, but they have to hit an average of 130K+ to reach it.
 
A

Aquamarine

Member
So no forecast revision as of yet. With this new news, it's now:

Nintendo DS Software
10.0 million units (between April 2013 and March 2014)

Nintendo 3DS Hardware
5 million units in Japan (between April 2013 and March 2014)
13 million units in non-domestic territories (between April 2013 and March 2014)

Nintendo 3DS Software
80.0 million units (between April 2013 and March 2014)

Wii Hardware
2.0 million units (between April 2013 and March 2014)

Wii Software
20.0 million units (between April 2013 and March 2014)

Wii U Hardware
9.0 million units (between April 2013 and March 2014)

Wii U Software
38.0 million units (between April 2013 and March 2014)
 
K

kswiston

Member
GulAtiCa said:
Finally, the 3DS is saved!

Anyways, I don't doubt it with Monster Hunter 4 and Pokemon X/Y on the way.
Click to expand...

3DS was saved in Japan a long time ago. Depending on how you count the Gameboy/GBC, it will likely end its run as the second or third best selling system ever in Japan. It won't hit DS numbers, but 25M is looking extremely likely.

Iwata should be more concerned with the West, especially if he wants to hit that very aggressive 18M fiscal year goal.
 
K

kswiston

Member
Magicpaint said:
Last year had 3DS XL + NSMB2 + Animal Crossing :)
Click to expand...

3DS is also currently down ~500k Year over Year. He's probably just being conservative. Personally, I think that the 3DS will do about as well this year as it did last year, with MH4/Pokemon helping it recover most of that deficit.

EDIT: Conservative not optimistic!
 
M

Magicpaint

Member
kswiston said:
3DS is also currently down ~500k Year over Year. He's probably just being conservative. Personally, I think that the 3DS will do about as well this year as it did last year, with MH4/Pokemon helping it recover most of that deficit.

EDIT: Conservative not optimistic!
Click to expand...

I think it will really depend on how well Pokemon and Monster Hunter can sustain hardware sales leading into the holidays because that's when the Animal Crossing sales effect happened for the 3DS last year.
 
S

SmokyDave

Member
Aostia said:
Last year they launched the 3DSXL and are now behind last year YTD of 400K more or less.
so, I think that they are doing a reasonable projection that could be even surpassed due to its, in fact, credibility.
Click to expand...
Magicpaint said:
Last year had 3DS XL + NSMB2 + Animal Crossing :)
Click to expand...
I know that, but I was under the impression that a YoY increase was expected from the Media Create threads. Still, 5 mill gives room to overperform, which always looks good.
 
G

Glass Rebel

Member
Sounds reasonable and this is now finally definite confirmation that Mario Party is still scheduled for 2013. This triple whammy should ensure that they meet and exceed 5m.

SmokyDave said:
I know that, but I was under the impression that a YoY increase was expected from the Media Create threads. Still, 5 mill gives room to overperform, which always looks good.
Click to expand...

Iwata getting tired of GAF saying that 3DS isn't meeting targets :V
 
L

LOCK

Member
Sept. - MH4
Oct. - Pokemon
Nov/Dec - Band Bros., Mario Party, One Piece, P&Dz, yearly regulars

Yeah they'll make it.
 
A

Aquamarine

Member
Just so there's no confusion:

Iwata gave the addendum "the company sold more than 5.5 million units last year." This addendum is only relevant in the fiscal year context (i.e. the 3DS only sold 5.5 million units within the April - March timeframe).

Therefore, Iwata's "5 million target" is presented in the context of the fiscal year (April - March), and not for the calendar year (January - December).

Given the 3DS's ability to sell 5.69 million units last fiscal year, and 5.04 million units from April - December, this should be a no brainer for the 3DS. Extraordinarily realistic projections by Mr. Iwata.
 
A

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
kswiston said:
I think I'm conditioned to associate "optimistic" with "Nintendo Hardware targets" :p
Click to expand...

Looking at some crazy previous forecast, I maybe know why :D

SmokyDave said:
I know that, but I was under the impression that a YoY increase was expected from the Media Create threads. Still, 5 mill gives room to overperform, which always looks good.
Click to expand...

really? strange. a new model (for a nintendo portable system, in Japan) really is a huge event, in terms of YTD sales (especially if reinforced with games like NSMB2 and AC, for example). and I think that it is (finally?) a reasonable forecast
 
1

1st Course

Member
Aquamarine said:
Nintendo 3DS Hardware
5 million units in Japan (between April 2013 and March 2014)
13 million units in non-domestic territories (between April 2013 and March 2014)
Click to expand...

I don't think they'll hit their forecast tbh, Pokemon is a very strong IP yes but 13m oversea just sound very unlikely.
 
K

kswiston

Member
Aquamarine said:
Just so there's no confusion:

Iwata gave the addendum "the company sold more than 5.5 million units last year." This addendum is only relevant in the fiscal year context (i.e. the 3DS only sold 5.5 million units within the April - March timeframe).
Click to expand...

I don't think this is necessarily true:

Media Create had 3DS at 5,497,737 after Week 52 in 2012. Famitsu had 3DS at 5,626,763 after that same week. He could be talking about calendar year 2013. Using Famitsu, or splitting the difference, gives you more than 5.5M.
 
T

Tripon

Member
1st Course said:
I don't think they'll hit their forecast tbh, Pokemon is a very strong IP yes but 13m oversea just sound very unlikely.
Click to expand...

They're going to try to sell 3DS' in relatively untapped markets. The fact that Korea and Russia are getting localized versions of Pokemon on the same day is potentially huge and will spur sales in those markets.
 
K

kswiston

Member
Tripon said:
They're going to try to sell 3DS' in relatively untapped markets. The fact that Korea and Russia are getting localized versions of Pokemon on the same day is potentially huge and will spur sales in those markets.
Click to expand...

Aren't both markets pretty PC-centric?
 
ArtHands

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
5 million? That's like the current life time sales of the vita worldwide.
 
S

SmokyDave

Member
Vyse The Legend said:
Of course, you'd find the negative spin. Haha.

And, as others said, they had new hardware last year.
Click to expand...
Woah woah, I wasn't meaning to be negative. I think a realistic forecast is a good thing. Much better than a 'best case' forecast that is then missed. I'm just surprised that a YoY decline is expected because I thought the opposite was the general consensus, even with the 3DS XL factored in.
 
T

Tripon

Member
kswiston said:
Aren't both markets pretty PC-centric?
Click to expand...

Yeah, but Korea has bought console games when publishers make an effort to localized them. (i.e. translate games into Korea, and market them) which for some reason, few do.

Russia is the land of pirates though, so it'll be interesting to see if they can penetrate that market.
 
M

Magicpaint

Member
SmokyDave said:
Woah woah, I wasn't meaning to be negative. I think a realistic forecast is a good thing. Much better than a 'best case' forecast that is then missed. I'm just surprised that a YoY decline is expected because I thought the opposite was the general consensus, even with the 3DS XL factored in.
Click to expand...

Why? When the DSLite released in 2006, the numbers were higher than in 2007 where there wasn't a model revision. And it was further down the year after. You can't discount the factors that weigh into whether a device is likely to have a positive or negative YoY growth.
 
A

Aquamarine

Member
kswiston said:
I don't think this is necessarily true:

Media Create had 3DS at 5,497,737 after Week 52 in 2012. Famitsu had 3DS at 5,626,763 after that same week. He could be talking about calendar year 2013. Using Famitsu, or splitting the difference, gives you more than 5.5M.
Click to expand...

Now that's a bit of a stretch. Not only does Nintendo always use Media Create in their presentations when demonstrating domestic sell-through, but considering how Bloomberg immediately transitioned into mentioning the fiscal year shipment projections, I think it's evident that Iwata was talking about the fiscal year shipments here.

And it makes more sense when considering the authority of his comment...Nintendo shipped a good margin above 5.5 million (5.69 million) in the fiscal year, while with Media Create, the 3DS didn't even HIT 5.5 million in the calendar year.
 
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