Nintendo 3DS launch in U.S. yields sales of 440,000 units

Nintendo 3DS U.S. debut off to strong start

The March debut of Nintendo 3DS in the United States posted sales of 440,000 units in the first week of release, a report from research firm NPD Group said today.

Meanwhile, sales in Japan recorded one month after its release there on February 26 showed that 801,000 units were sold to customers.

The Nintendo 3DS retails for $250 and does not require special glasses to view 3D images.

If combined with earlier DS models, Nintendo Co. has sold 860,000 DS units last month, said to be the strongest March ever for the DS product line.

The robust sales of the Nintendo 3DS were overshadowed by slumping sales of the Wii game consoles, which  only sold 290,000 units. That is down 48 percent from 558,000 Wii units sold in the same time last year.

Xbox 360, manufactured by Microsoft, was still the best-selling video game console for March according to NPD. Sony's PlayStation enjoyed a double-digit increase in hardware and peripherals, a company spokesman said.

Overall sales of video and computer games dropped 16 percent to $735.4 million in March, NPD said. But hardware sales climbed 12 percent to $494.5 million on the strength of brisk sales of the Nintendo 3DS.

Software sales continued their slide as gamers shift their focus from video game consoles into mobile gaming and online social games. But that also means total demand from consumers is still growing, albeit skewed in favor of consoles.

Nintendo is counting on its new Nintendo 3DS console to generate more sales in the coming months to offset some losses in Wii sales.

Posted by Melanie Mendoza on Thursday April 14 2011, 10:52 PM EST. Ref: Bloomberg. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Shopping. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0