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[jcm]

Still amazed that the best selling system is doing worse than what PSP was doing at the same point.

Yes, hardware-wise, at this point in its lifespan the PSP did significantly better than the 3DS. This is PSP in 2007 and 3DS in 2013:

March
PSP: 180K
3DS: 230K

April
PSP: 183K
3DS: 113K

May:
PSP 221K
3DS 114K

June
PSP: 290K
3DS: 225K

July
PSP: 214K
3DS: 150K

August
PSP: 151K
3DS: 130K

Total:
PSP: 1239K
3DS:  962K

 

[The Horror the horror]

I don't understand the thread title. Tons of Nintendo Software? Is that supposed to be a joke?

 

[Saty]

Any chance for Crysis 3\ Dead Space 3 \ Bioshock or any other YTD's?

 

[Sendou]

I don't understand the thread title. Tons of Nintendo Software? Is that supposed to be a joke?

It's a reference to this piece of info that got updated in to the original post:

According to Nintendo, 190,000 copies of Mario & Luigi: Dream Team were sold in August (combining physical and digital sales), while Pikmin 3 sold 115,000. New Super Luigi U has sold 120,000 combined units across physical and digital.

Nintendo reports that the following 3DS games have sold at least 250,000 combined copies so far in 2013:

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (863,000)
Animal Crossing: New Leaf (739,000)
New Super Mario Bros. 2 (406,000 in 2013, 1.85 million total)
Fire Emblem Awakening (390,000)
Mario Kart 7 (352,000 in 2013, 2.84 million total)
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity (298,000)
Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D (268,000)
Super Mario 3D Land (265,000 in 2013, 2.86 million total)
LEGO City Undercover: The Chase Begins (264,000)

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/...aefdec3700002d

We got information on tons of Nintendo software.

 

[allan-bh]

It would be nice know the sales of Madden 25.

 

[SmokyDave]

Yes, hardware-wise, at this point in its lifespan the PSP did significantly better than the 3DS. This is PSP in 2007 and 3DS in 2013:

PSP is in beast mode!

It's astonishing that people seem to think that the 3DS is a sales star. Just shows how much things have changed.

 

[DragonSworne]

Yes, hardware-wise, at this point in its lifespan the PSP did significantly better than the 3DS.

It still amazes me that people think 3DS is doing well.

Nintendo market size has significantly shrunk since the release of 3DS and Wii U. I'm surprised more people aren't upset/dissapointed at Nintendo's performance.

 

[Skiesofwonder]

I don't understand the thread title. Tons of Nintendo Software? Is that supposed to be a joke?

The second update to this thread revealed numbers for tons of Nintendo software (Pikmin 3, NSMLU, Dream Team, and top 10 YTD for 3DS).

 

[Sendou]

It still could be that 3DS is doing well in relative to the situation it faces. That could even be if it doesn't do PSP numbers everywhere in the world.

 

[Opiate]

PSP is in beast mode!

It's astonishing that people seem to think that the 3DS is a sales star. Just shows how much things have changed.

All things are relative. If the PS4 sells 90m units in its lifespan but the Xbone sells 40m and the Wii U 20m, then the PS4 will be doing relatively very well in what is an objectively diminished console space even though the PS4 will have sold worse than winners of the previous three generations.

3DS is doing relatively well, but mediocre in absolute/long terms.

 

[Hindle]

Crazy to think Pokemon or Monster Hunter have yet to be released for Nintendo. Yet they've still had so many best selling 3DS games.

 

[Plinko]

It still could be that 3DS is doing well in relative to the situation it faces. That could even be if it doesn't do PSP numbers everywhere in the world.

This is what it is.

We'll never see DS sales again. DS and PSP were released in a market not saturated with iOS/tablet/smartphone. It's ridiculous to expect the same numbers.

 

[Nirolak]

Putting creamsugar % in numbers:

[WII] Disney Infinity- ~74.000
[Wii U] Disney Infinity- ~48.000

[360] Splinter Cell: Blacklist < 210k
[PS3] Splinter Cell: Blacklist < 85k
[Wii U] Splinter Cell: Blacklist < 5k

Aug LTDs:
WiiU 1.25m
Wii 4.0m
GC 2.1m
N64 3.6m

I don't think they'll pull ALL support. Games like Rayman and Just Dance and things will probably still do well on the system.

Similarly, I doubt we'll stop seeing Sonic games on the system.

I won't be surprised when the cross-gen period ends and the games like Assassin's Creed or Splinter Cell stop appearing, though.

I suspect they will keep on the family games, but honestly if things like Splinter Cell are selling 5K and the system seems totally dead even in comparison to the GameCube, I would be surprised if they even dropped cross-gen core titles early.

I mean I'm having a lot of trouble finding a situation where you can make money on a port selling 5K in its biggest market. The return fees for overstock alone would likely eat up a lot of what you made, much less paying the salaries of the people who made it.

 

[SmokyDave]

All things are relative. If the PS4 sells 90m units in its lifespan but the Xbone sells 40m and the Wii U 20m, then the PS4 will be doing relatively very well in what is an objectively diminished console space even though the PS4 will have sold worse than winners of the previous three generations.

3DS is doing relatively well, but mediocre in absolute/long terms.

Oh I dig why it's happening. The marketplace has changed immeasurably in a short space of time. There isn't a hope in hell that the Vita and the 3DS will end up selling 220 million units so the bar has been lowered drastically. It's just interesting to see how much has changed and how quickly. I'll be just as surprised if the PS4 lags behind the PS3 over the first couple of years, but gets declared a success on account of the XBone and Wii U 'pulling a Vita'.

 

[Various Artists]

I suspect they will keep on the family games, but honestly if things like Splinter Cell are selling 5K and the system seems totally dead even in comparison to the GameCube, I would be surprised if they even dropped cross-gen core titles early.

I mean I'm having a lot of trouble finding a situation where you can make money on a port selling 5K in its biggest market. The return fees for overstock alone would likely eat up a lot of what you made, much less paying the salaries of the people who made it.

The only thing that would make sense is for Nintendo to take the hit and fund the ports. Theyll lose some money in the short term but it could keep the system on a small form of life support.

 

[Basileus777]

The only thing that would make sense is for Nintendo to take the hit and fund the ports. Theyll lose some money in the short term but it could keep the system on a small form of life support.

I wonder if it'd even be worth it for them to fund them. With sales as low as SC is experiencing, that title being on the WiiU isn't doing anyone any good.

 

[Opiate]

Oh I dig why it's happening. The marketplace has changed immeasurably in a short space of time. There isn't a hope in hell that the Vita and the 3DS will end up selling 220 million units so the bar has been lowered drastically. It's just interesting to see how much has changed and how quickly. I'll be just as surprised if the PS4 lags behind the PS3 over the first couple of years, but gets declared a success on account of the XBone and Wii U 'pulling a Vita'.

I don't think the console industry has been hit as hard by the changes in the industry (at least, it hasn't yet), but I think my numbers, while chosen relatively arbitrarily, are a reasonable possibility. The whole market shrinks, the leader sells 90m-100m, and looks good in comparison to the Wii U Bomba (I think the Wii U bomb is the worse than the Vita bomb, so let's call them Wii U bombs for short).

 

[DarkLordMalik]

It's kinda ironic that the whole Top 10 for 3DS is full of Nintendo software. Lego City is the only exception here.

I don't think the console industry has been hit as hard by the changes in the industry (at least, it hasn't yet), but I think my numbers, while chosen relatively arbitrarily, are a reasonable possibility. The whole market shrinks, the leader sells 90m-100m, and looks good in comparison to the Wii U Bomba (I think the Wii U bomb is the worse than the Vita bomb, so let's call them Wii U bombs for short).

I have to agree with here that Wii U bomb is far worse. VITA bombing makes sense because of how much the handheld market has lost its userbase to Smartphones/Tablets but seeing Wii U bomb, coming off from Wii, was shocking.

 

[Celine]

PSP is in beast mode!

It's astonishing that people seem to think that the 3DS is a sales star. Just shows how much things have changed.

It shines in the general mediocrity.
In US sales aren't bad but should be better.

It's kinda ironic that the whole Top 10 for 3DS is full of Nintendo software. Lego City is the only exception here.

That's what happen on every Nintendo system since forever.

 

[Nirolak]

The only thing that would make sense is for Nintendo to take the hit and fund the ports. Theyll lose some money in the short term but it could keep the system on a small form of life support.

I wonder if it'd even be worth it for them to fund them. With sales as low as SC is experiencing, that title being on the WiiU isn't doing anyone any good.

Right, at some point the sales are low enough to just say "Well we're clearly not benefiting by having this." even from Nintendo's perspective.

 

[TriangularDuck]

It's kinda ironic that the whole Top 10 for 3DS is full of Nintendo software. Lego City is the only exception here.

Lego City is Nintendo funded and published.

 

[1st Course]

The 3DS is doing great only in Japan really. I'm not saying that the system oversea sales are bad btw but they simply far from what the DS numbers.

The DS sold over 120m units oversea. The 3DS is at ~20m oversea atm I believe

About 40% of total 3DS sales are from Japan.

 

[Aquamarine]

I'm glad that Wii U numbers this month are *slightly* higher than last month.

Even though Pikmin 3 didn't do much at all to boost sales, any type of MOM decline reversal is most welcome.

 

[Tagg9]

It's kinda ironic that the whole Top 10 for 3DS is full of Nintendo software. Lego City is the only exception here.

Not really a surprise. Name a single major third-party 3DS game from a North American dev.

 

[Yoshi]

Right, at some point the sales are low enough to just say "Well we're clearly not benefiting by having this." even from Nintendo's perspective.

Do we know how the Micky Epic port for Vita that Sony funded did? Because this could be an indicator if Nintendo-funded ports could still be worth it for Nintendo. I doubt it though, their money is probably better spent in shaping a clear profile for a specific niche (including platformers obviously) where they shine and noone else can compete. Securing Sonic was a good investment I think. This way they can at least carve out a niche as a console for players who want to have two consoles and thus can profit from the added variety through a Wii U instead of owning PS4 and Xbone.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Aug LTDs:
WiiU 1.25m
Wii 4.0m
GC 2.1m
N64 3.6m

Holy hell... O_O

 

[kswiston]

Aren't US 3DS sales the slowest for a major Nintendo handheld since at least the GBC (which probably had better sales as well)? Things don't look much better in Europe either. 3DS sales still aren't bad, but selling at a slower pace than the DS, PSP, and GBA in the west is not good either.

 

[jvm]

I'm glad that Wii U numbers this month are *slightly* higher than last month.

Even though Pikmin 3 didn't do much at all to boost sales, any type of MOM decline reversal is most welcome.

Don't you think that this move up or down could be the result of random noise in the system?

 

[Aquamarine]

Don't you think that this move up or down could be the result of random noise in the system?

I believe that the Wii U would have declined from 29K if Pikmin 3 hadn't come out.

 

[Mpl90]

Yeah, 3DS should have sold more this month. At least, we all know things will change starting in October, when they come, accompained by the 2DS.
...Unless we don't start seeing the Pokémon effect from September NPD, thanks to X/Y limited editions being tracked for 8 days. Looking at some preorder charts (GameStop and Best Buy), both the limited SKUs are very high in preorder charts (11th and 12th for Gamestop, for example), which is remarkable for consoles which are "just" special models, no game included. The Zelda Wii U bundle is high too, a little higher than both 3DS XL models.

 

[ascii42]

I believe that the Wii U would have declined from 29K if Pikmin 3 hadn't come out.

Yeah. At this point for the WiiU and Vita, every sale is a battle. It's not about whether a game or a price drop boosted sales, but rather prevented it from slipping further.

 

[allan-bh]

3DS sales in US are kinda disappointing. At this point I expected better performance (and probably Nintendo too).

Let's see if Nintendo 2DS can be a change factor.

 

[Nirolak]

Yeah, 3DS should have sold more this month. At least, we all know things will change starting in October, when they come, accompained by the 2DS.
...Unless we don't start seeing the Pokémon effect from September NPD, thanks to X/Y limited editions being tracked for 8 days. Looking at some preorder charts (GameStop and Best Buy), both the limited SKUs are very high in preorder charts (11th and 12th for Gamestop, for example), which is remarkable for consoles which are "just" special models, no game included. The Zelda Wii U bundle is high too, a little higher than both 3DS XL models.

I feel the rest of the holiday season should do pretty well. At least above PSP well.

I'm mostly curious how it holds into next year as we start going through the doldrum months, since if it isn't holding, it might be a nice indicator to Nintendo to start hurrying up with the successor instead of letting themselves fall into a giant sales pit at the end of the system's life.

Judging by tablets, people are okay with upgrading a bit more frequently these days.

 

[iammeiam]

3DS sales in US are kinda disappointing. At this point I expected better performance (and probably Nintendo too).

Let's see if Nintendo 2DS can be a change factor.

Did we get DS numbers for this month? I feel like the DS has been clinging to life longer than it should have in NA; if it's still moving a notable number of units each month I'd expect the 2DS to be Nintendo's attempt at finally killing off the DS and moving its audience to the 3DS family.

Sales for the 3DS still wouldn't be great, but at least Nintendo could consolidate their handheld sales.

 

[Mpl90]

I'm quite sure it will perform much higher than the "PSP well". There is a brand new Pokémon main title, for the first time in 3D, a Zelda entry with both nostalgic and mass-audience appeal, and the cheap SKU of the console. I'll even risk saying it could sell quite better than in 2011 (the reference are the last three months: Oct- Nov- Dec)

 

[Bkey]

Lego City deserved so much more sales. Is there numbers to show NSL digital vs disk? I had some hope that Woderful 101 would sell ok but now I'm doubting that as I don't think it could release at a worse time with hardly any marketing. I have to imagine some great deals on black Friday with Mario World would be the only hope to see Wii U to jump in sales in a meaningful way.

 

[KillerMan91]

First month of sales:

[360] Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Capcom) {2006.01.12} - 329,000
[360 - PS3] Lost Planet 3 (Capcom) {2013.08.27} - 10,000

Tales of Xillia is the second Tales of in the US with a debut over 100,000 units sold, really impressive.

[GCN] Tales of Symphonia (Nintendo) {2004.07.13} - 118,500
[PS3] Tales of Xillia (Namco Bandai Games) {2013.08.06} - 100,000

Then when you add that Xillia is probably doing way better than Symphonia in Europe this really is great success for Namco.

 

[allan-bh]

Did we get DS numbers for this month? I feel like the DS has been clinging to life longer than it should have in NA; if it's still moving a notable number of units each month I'd expect the 2DS to be Nintendo's attempt at finally killing off the DS and moving its audience to the 3DS family.

No, we don't get DS number. But last month sold ~31k

 

[Burai]

The 3DS will never hit the heights of its predecessor simply due to the fact there's no option to just buy the hardware and slap an R4 card in there.

 

[Mory Dunz]

Yeah, a little disappointing for 3DS. However I have s sneaking suspicion that 2DS will be big. Like huge. If it actually bombs, feel free to quote this in a few months as vitaTV goes off.

 

[SmokyDave]

I don't think the console industry has been hit as hard by the changes in the industry (at least, it hasn't yet), but I think my numbers, while chosen relatively arbitrarily, are a reasonable possibility. The whole market shrinks, the leader sells 90m-100m, and looks good in comparison to the Wii U Bomba (I think the Wii U bomb is the worse than the Vita bomb, so let's call them Wii U bombs for short).

I honestly have no idea how the console market is going to turn out. You're probably on the money though.

The 3DS will never hit the heights of its predecessor simply due to the fact there's no option to just buy the hardware and slap an R4 card in there.

The DS sold a ton more software than the 3DS in the same timespan, so I'm not convinced that's necessarily true.

 

[Nirolak]

I'm quite sure it will perform much higher than the "PSP well". There is a brand new Pokémon main title, for the first time in 3D, a Zelda entry with both nostalgic and mass-audience appeal, and the cheap SKU of the console. I'll even risk saying it could sell quite better than in 2011 (the reference are the last three months: Oct- Nov- Dec)

That interlocks a bit actually.

September:
PSP: 284.5K
3DS: 260K

October:
PSP: 286K
3DS: >250k

November:
PSP: 567K
3DS: 795k

December:
PSP: 1.06M
3DS: 1.60m

 

[kswiston]

Yeah, a little disappointing for 3DS. However I have s sneaking suspicion that 2DS will be big. Like huge. If it actually bombs, feel free to quote this in a few months as vitaTV goes off.

2DS still has the problem of $40 games competing with $1-5 iOS/Android apps. Pokemon will boost sales for awhile, but Nintendo has released the majority of its heavy hitters already. If we were going to see DS like sales, we would have by now. DS was seeing 400k+ months before Pokemon launched in April 2007.

EDIT: 3DS should really have a Nintendo Selects line by this point. Starfox 3D, OOT 3D, Kid Icarus and their other early 3DS titles should all carry MSRP of $19.99.

 

[Mory Dunz]

2DS still has the problem of $40 games competing with $1-5 iOS/Android apps. Pokemon will boost sales for awhile, but Nintendo has released the majority of its heavy hitters already. If we were going to see DS like sales, we would have by now. DS was seeing 400k+ months before Pokemon launched in April 2007.

I wasn't thinking ds big. Just a new higher baseline of sales.

 

[Muzy72]

Wii U sales are going to be pretty much 0 till the 20th, right? I doubt anyone would buy one when the price cut is happening soon.

 

[Aquamarine]

Yeah. At this point for the WiiU and Vita, every sale is a battle. It's not about whether a game or a price drop boosted sales, but rather prevented it from slipping further.

Wii U weekly averages, past four months:

May 2013: 8,250 units
June 2013: 8,400 units
July 2013: 7,250 units
August 2013: 7,750 units

It's that 8K weekly rut that Wii U can't seem to get itself out of. At the moment it looks as if Wii U has found itself a baseline of at least 28K / 4 weeks.

But the longer that the console maintains its rut, the more "dead" it becomes, especially as third-party developers are starting to decide which ports they'll make for next year.

That's the problem when you're on the losing side of a hardware battle. If I were to use an metaphor, I'd liken it to a leaking ship that you have to constantly plug with holes to keep afloat. It's just not a healthy environment.

I believe its first real opportunity to correct this rut is this holiday season. After seeing what impact a full month of Pikmin 3 had on the system, I'm not optimistic at all that the $50 "price cut" / Wind Waker HD / Wii Party U will do anything significant.

 

[Mpl90]

I'm mostly curious how it holds into next year as we start going through the doldrum months, since if it isn't holding, it might be a nice indicator to Nintendo to start hurrying up with the successor instead of letting themselves fall into a giant sales pit at the end of the system's life.

Judging by tablets, people are okay with upgrading a bit more frequently these days.

Next year is definitively interesting, and it depends on what lineup Nintendo will have, but not just that.

For example, first three months will still be influenced by the Holidays momentum (especially January), and given these Holidays should be big, January, February and March will see improvements compared to 2012 and 2013. Just like Q1 2013 was worse than Q1 2012 (especially Jan-Feb) due to the lack of any Holiday momentum.

About the lineup, this is what we know for US so far

Yoshi's New Island
Bravely Default
Super Smash Bros. for 3DS
Mario Golf: World Tour
Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy
Professor Layton v.s. Ace Attorney

It's obviously incomplete. However, we have already a massive seller (Smash Bros.), one mid-high level (Yoshi) and one mid level (Mario Golf) seller, as well as possible mid-low sellers. I can see Bravely Default, due to Nintendo pushing it, doing nice numbers since 3DS is a good place for Japanese-stylised games, both first and third party.

Nintendo could also push even more bundles, even more software promotions (like the European "So many games!" and the American Fire Emblem x Shin Megami Tensei one), and, why not, a little price drop for all the models at the end of the Summer.

 

[jvm]

Has Nintendo ceased shipping NDS (DSi/DSi XL) to the U.S.? Just wondering.

The 2DS appears poised to take over that slot in their lineup and I'm wondering whether NDS sales will end completely now. They've all but stopped in other territories, IIRC.

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Business-wise, I really wish Nintendo would do something interesting. Currently they aren't really changing their playbook: Minor price-drops, pumping out franchise entries. Odd new portable revision. It's what they always do, despite the poor sales. They seem to think that Wii U will find it's niche and turn into a slow but steady GameCube. There doesn't seem to be any fire or vigor behind their actions, and no big moves seem to be coming. I'd like to see something big, a drastic strategy change such as:

Admit the Wii U Gamepad is an albatross. No longer require it going forward and put out a new system package with a painful $100 pricecut to accompany the new Mario this fall. Sell the Gamepad as an optional accessory that will be used solely for off-TV play if desired. Advertise the shit out of Mario on TV and highlight the lower-cost of the system.

Yes, I KNOW there are 101 reasons why they WON'T do this, but that's the kind of thing I'd like to see from them. The industry's really boring to watch right now, despite the new consoles coming up.

 

[Aquamarine]

Has Nintendo ceased shipping NDS (DSi/DSi XL) to the U.S.? Just wondering.

The 2DS appears poised to take over that slot in their lineup and I'm wondering whether NDS sales will end completely now. They've all but stopped in other territories, IIRC.

Nintendo:

1) Has completely discontinued all DS shipments to Japan

2) Still maintains a very, very small DS shipment to The Americas and Europe / Other

3) From April 1st, 2013 through June 30th, 2013, Nintendo has shipped 40,000 DS consoles to The Americas and 20,000 DS consoles to Europe / Other

4) All of these were DSi. Nintendo has discontinued shipments of the DSi XL and the DS Lite worldwide