Last week, Nintendo were telling everyone that pre-order figures for the 3DS were huge. They said that on pre-orders alone, they would sell 140,000 units in the UK and were estimating opening weekend sales of 150,000 to 200,000. This week, they’ve announced opening weekend sales of 113,000.
That figure may be below what they originally predicted and even below what they claimed were pre-ordered but it’s still the most successful Nintendo launch in the UK ever. According to the experts over at MCV, the discrepancy can be accounted for by retailers over-representing their pre-order demand in order to secure what they considered adequate stock for the perceived demand.
The massive demand predicted may not have completely ripened but these figures are still very impressive and retailers are said to be very happy with the business generated by Nintendo’s newest handheld (only beaten by the PSP’s launch sales of 185,000 units and the PS3’s launch sales of 165,000).
Source: MCV
BIGAL-1992
Hey, hang on a minute. What’s going on here?
colmshan1990
Did the people who pre-ordered it not realise that it’s out or something?
Here’s something interesting, although Japan isn’t going to have normal sales figures for some time, it still is unexpected to have PSP outsell 3DS: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/03/31/3ds-outsold-by-psp-in-japan.aspx
colossalblue
basically, retailers told Nintendo they’d had loads more pre-orders than they really had so that Nintendo supplied extra consoles and the retailers were in no danger of selling out their stock and losing future sales.
If I was Nintendo, I’d be properly pissed off by this.
matthangzhou
Surely better for the consumer though if these mega corporations can supply the demand than having them artificially hold back stock to create demand like the wii fit etc.
gazzagb
I imagine Nitendo are pretty annoyed with the retailers, they had probably got their hopes up; 113,000 isn’t that good in comparison to 200,000.
cam the man
I bet it’s the same for most launches, retailers over-stating pre-orders.
gazzagb
I agree, but over-stating 87,000 is a lot.
Klart
Quite as low as I hoped. Not too fussed about the 3DS. Nintendo sells enough as it is.
Maybe we’ll see less shovelware if the sales aren’t k-razy like the Wii’s.
Charmed_Fanatic
wow people probably realised that nintendo just keep realising the same console 5x, so waiting for a 3DSLite or something
squashme
lol they should release something different for a change instead of the same console all the time
Rob92
I doubt Nintendo are really scoffing. Everyone knows its gonna sell massively over time, possibly even outsell the DS so they wont be worrying. And even if it didn’t they’ve still got the Wii.
Whats interesting though and something I didn’t know was that the PSP and PS3 have the highest selling opening weeks in the UK. Thats damn impressive for what many criticised in being too expensive. Shame those kind of numbers didn’t continue.
colossalblue
It’s laughable to see people hoping for a console to fail. Especially one from a lineage that has done more than most to bring gaming out of the bedrooms of teenagers and into the mainstream.
If you don’t personally want the thing, that’s one thing but hoping it fails so nobody can have it is ridiculously close-minded and more than a little mean-spirited.
colossalblue
sorry, didn’t mean that to be a reply to this comment. I must’ve clicked the wrong thing in a fit of incredulity :)
Rob92
I was about to say! Never said I wanted it to fail haha. I’d love one myself.
Bilbo_bobbins
I was surprised when I went to check it out, thought it looked pretty good. Lets hope it releases some decent games for it instead of the crap they have been.
simplebob
The Nintendo DS has always appealed more to the younger gamer, and I would imagine that a lot of DS sales tie in with birthdays and christmas rather than launch dates. Theres going to be a lot of kids who have the 3DS on a birthday wish list where the sales are never going to be made at console launch.
colossalblue
This is traditionally the case for Nintendo: Their software has a relatively slow start but maintain a steady rate of sales for much longer than any other platform. That’s why they don’t chart particularly well a lot of the time in the weekly or monthly charts but regularly smash the year-end ones!
bunimomike
I have to say, I find the launch titles pathetic at best. I’m not usually like this either (criticising a new launch unduly) but the whole line-up feels decidedly average. Sure, there are a couple of stand-out titles but the word “rehash” has never felt so abundantly obvious when describing a console’s launch. I’ve never bought a Nintendo and may well never want one but they’re a great company and, as you say, have brought so much to the industry. Highly respected regardless of demographic.
However, with all that said, this feels like regurgitation in 3D form (eww! *shields eyes*) for want of a better word.
Awayze
I think iPad 2 would have had a HUGE impact on the sales, I wanted a 3DS but I kept swaying between the iPad 2 and 3DS, eventually settled on the iPad 2 for now, seeing as I’m in my 1st year at University Of Manchester, I went to the stores on Friday night and midday at Arndale, Macnhester, no lines at GAME for 3DS but huge queues for iPad 2 at midnight launch and midday Friday.
Dange
Expected more in all honesty, still, its decent. Times have changed since the last generation of handhelds, people have less disposable income and this just reflect it I guess. I don’t see 3DS being anything other than a huge sucess when it’s all said and done.
Just hope the PSP2 fairs better this time round, thats the one I’ll be picking up.
For me Ninty not including twin sticks was a huge mistake.