February 20th, 2012

The 3DS has sold over 5,000,000 units in Japan in under one year

106 Comments

Nintendo has announced that the 3DS has sold over 5,000,000 units in under one year. To compare, it took the Game Boy Advance fifty-eight weeks to reach this milestone, and it took fifty-six weeks for the Nintendo DS to do the same. There’s a graph after the break to see the sales relative to other Nintendo platforms.

  • second

    yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

  • LittleMofreaky

    Hole-E SHIT

    • cm93

      clever lol

    • NYAHH

      Hoo Lee Schitt

  • Zetger

    Sweeet =)

  • Oscar

    I’m not suprised considering the games for the 3ds.

    • VersaChaos

      That was a joke, right?…

      Right? -__^

    • sam3ds says….Epic

      @VersaChaos. Your comment was a joke right?
      Mario Kart 7, mario 3D land, StarFox643D, legend of zelda ocarina of time 3d, mario and sonic at the london 2012 olympic games, crush 3d, resident evil, and a ton more.

    • jonathan peabody

      @VersaChaos, also Bit Trip Saga, Cave Story 3D, Mutant Mudds, Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword, Street Fighter, Mighty Switch Force, Pushmo, Sonic Generations, Metal Gear Solid 3D and a couple more I’m forgetting. You, sir, are buying too much first and second party software.

    • VersaChaos

      Mario Kart 7? What?!!! The millionth Mario Kart game?!! How original?! Super Mario 3D Land?!! The gazillionrh Mario rehash! Whoa! Let me catch my breath for a sec! Star Fox 3D? HAHA! A port of an on-rails N64 game? Brilliant! OOT?! Supposedly crammed with new content according to Aonouma. LOL WUT?! I must have missed all that new content. Lazy port after lazy port. Mario and Sonic? You’re pulling my leg now, right? Crush 3D? Okay I’m gonna stop speaking now…Resident Evil? Jeeezz……..a terribly dated game with crappy graphics that’s being heralded as the 2nd coming of jeebus. The game-play is so old-school even my gramps can play it. Boring, boring, boring. AI sucks. No thank you.

      A ton more? Like what?

    • Marquis

      VersaChaos: Desperate troll is desperately obvious :D

    • GameCollector44

      Desperate troll is desperate, but…

      Resident Evil: Revelations
      Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance
      Luigi’s Mansion 2
      Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle

      kthxbai.

    • Josh

      @VersaChaos What exactly do you consider a good game?

      And if it’s something we don’t like, do you think we should troll you or respect your decision?

    • R

      “Desperate troll is desperate, but…

      Resident Evil: Revelations
      Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance
      Luigi’s Mansion 2
      Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle”

      And don’t forget…

      Animal Crossing
      Kid Icarus
      New Zelda game
      Paper Mario
      Metal Gear Solid

      Also, if you’ve ever played Mario Kart, you should know that the game never loses its luster, regardless of how many of its predecessors you’ve played. ;)

    • ReallyWut

      Uh, I think VersaChaos just got pwned…really bad.

    • g-man

      @versachaos: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

    • http://www.gamesradar.com GameManiac

      I would think Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney would be mentioned already.

    • uhga buga

      @josh

      haah that is exaclty what im thinking about versachaos must play a certain genre only or something

    • Naner

      @VersaChaos: “Lazy port after lazy port”? I honestly don’t see what you mean. The 3DS doesn’t have a single (major) port in its library. Ocarina and Star Fox are full remakes. Mario Kart 7 (the seventh game, not the millionth) and Super Mario 3D Land (the fifth 3D Mario ever, less than what some series got in a single generation) are completely new titles.

      Someone should do a big understandable video on YouTube explaining the difference between a port, a remake, a sequel, a reboot and a new entry.

    • Zakk

      @VersaChaos. a wild fanboy appears!

    • steven

      GET THE FCK OFF THIS WEBSITE YOU FAT,GAY,SONY FANBOY,NOOBTUBING, 3DS HATING BITC#!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      WWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!! *breath, breath, breath…….passout*

  • http://passid.ca/potter dsiderreck6

    Wow…

    • http://www.gamesradar.com GameManiac

      Is that Gravatar Code Lyoko? God, I never bothered seeing the end of it.

  • DigitalGreenTea

    Nintendo is king!

  • http://images.wikia.com/croc/images/d/d5/Croc!.jpeg Mr Rex

    EPIC WIN!

  • http://passid.ca/joshm Joshua

    This is incredible.

  • WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF

    WTF WOOT!!!!! WOOT!!!!!

  • electrokid

    eat that sony, ps sony is dying ha ha

    • my name is of no importance

      lets not start a fanboy argument now

    • Josh

      NO, we like competition! Remember?

    • obama

      Yeah! If Sony or Microsoft dies, that means we lose. You’d be missing out on those great games and Nintendo would stop trying due to lack of competition.

    • NYAHH

      FANGAAAAYYY

    • The Video Gamer

      @obama No those developers would just come over to Nintendo platforms and do remember there was a time when it was pretty just Nintendo in the handheld arena and they still brought out tons of quality software.

    • g-man

      ^^^… umm… no. power glove much? just about errything on avgn much?

    • uhga buga

      @obama

      ugh you seem to forget Nintendo IS a Game Developer they will try their hardest no matter what dude.

      nah ur right they’ll just say fuk what we love to do and fuk money right?

  • my name is of no importance

    this is great news, now lets hear about the other regions :D

  • RNorthex

    this isn’t as amazing as you people think so
    well at least compared to how much more gamers are around these days[altough with smartphones getting a chunk of those it could've been lower]
    that sai,d the 3ds had one of the worst launches and it was collecting dust for almost the first half-a-year so it’s nice to see it coming back so nicely

  • clubmini123

    3ds before the pricedrop and after the price drop :O

    • SKent

      yeah, it’d be a very respectable number if they hadn’t had to resort to the price drop. How many of the 5 mill were sold at a loss?

    • Kelsonar

      None of them were sold at a lost. The price to produce and manufature a single 3ds along with all of it’s included accessories is Approx. 101$. So either or, they’re selling at a profit.

      Less of a profit, but a profit.

    • jonathan peabody

      Keisonar: No, that is just the cost of materials. The manufacturing and cost of shipping are not included there.

      Also, this wouldn’t be much more than 2 million if they hadn’t done the price drop.

    • Cornh

      It would be dumb to think that the net cost of materials is the same for an analyst than for Nintendo, most distributors sell cheaper the more units they sell, when you are talking about buying 3d screens and processors by the ten-thousands, the prices go down.

    • ReallyWut

      Selling at a loss is something Sony does, not Nintendo.

    • mariomarioman

      @ReallyWut
      Sony just got pwned!!!>=D

    • uhga buga

      @reallywut

      lol nice

  • Mo

    Yea, I see a bright future for the 3DS. The games and price drop are both what pullef it through. I don’t think that the 3DS is at that point where it is selling like hot cakes.

  • cm93

    that shows it’s all about software
    took a while but Ninty knows not the meaning of giving in

    GO NINTENDO!!
    AND 3DS!!
    AND WiiU!!! ….when… it launches..!!!

    :D

  • S.F. Rizzi

    Wait till pokemon comes out lol, it will definately set some records!

  • GamingFan99

    Wow.

  • http://hybrilynx.net/ Hybrilynx

    its probably just becuz its cheap. still wish i got it $80 cheaper though.

    • Odd Bob

      Looking at the graph, I’m pretty sure you can see exactly where the price drop went into effect.

    • Braig

      It’s the tiny spike after week 22

    • mariomarioman

      i still wouldnt call $170 cheap…

  • MarioMaster 7

    WOW! After a rocky start,they still pulled it off.

  • Odd Bob

    The DS sold 1.25 million between weeks 52 and 56? Is that right?

    Don’t think the 3DS is going to do that, but it’s nice to see it on a firm footing. Now where the heck is Animal Crossing??

    • mason

      I WANT ANIMAL CROSSING NOW!

  • Castle

    Congratulations NINTENDO!! Very good to hear = D

  • KLoo

    Hey everyone, can I ask you a simple favor?
    I created a blog myself, of course, Nintendo related.
    I got inspired by no other than David, owner of nintendo3dsblog.
    If you could, I was wondering if you can check it out…
    I hope that one day it could become as popular as David’s.
    Please leave your comments/thoughts about it.
    Any ways here is the link to it:
    nintendostuffgo(dot)blogspot(d­ot)com/

    • http://thekirbyclub.net/ Kirby

      Check this website too: thekirbyclub.net

    • Josh

      Checked them both out…

      They were great!

  • Luna☆

    Yay, this is really awesome news! :D

  • TheDarkHero

    think about it.you get 3D at a super cheap price when u have 2 sell your arm and leg 4 a 3D TV expect the 3DS to win.

  • Lene

    CHAMPAGNE !

  • sam765

    Sadly the 3DS is not doing so good here in Europe. PS3 and the PSP are the dominant consoles here so I think the Vita will perform much better than in Japan….

    • stephen

      true. I don’t know anyone with a 3ds in the UK apart from my cousin. and I also wish the advert’s for the 3ds weren’t so awful in every way humanly possible.

  • http://tgh L Beast

    Guys any1 want to join a 3ds clan? Its awesome, we play online and stuff. Im L Beast, L is the clan tag. Here it is : http://www.clan.iclanwebsites.com/life
    Im a co leader and if you join lemme now if i recruited you

  • Ttimer

    Hope with this there will be A LOT more games on 3DS :DKH

  • Nintedorks

    I need some clarification please. If over 5 million units were sold under one year and it took 52 weeks to sell said units, then doesn’t that contradict itself because 52 weeks = 13 months which is over one year. I’m confused /:

    Other than that, fantastic news! It’s great to see previous Nintendo milestones get beaten by new Nintendo achievements.

    • sam765

      `Since when is 52 weeks equals 13 month?!

    • Josh

      First things first,
      52 weeks = 12 months = 1 year

      And the 3ds sales passed the 5 million mark just before the end of the last week so it made it.

    • Daniel

      365/7=52.14

  • http://Nintendo3DSBlog jack860

    Great work nintendo!!
    And when is luigi’s mansion 2 coming out.

    • http://Nintendo3DSBlog hjdghko5khflhkhmm,,ko009[:kjgfrrtyuu6r468900inkmvmjhmm,,khgdweryuiikkmbbnmm,,,,,,,kkkjfddbnmjjkk,,mhrer57900975rnmggjhdwetikjgvnjhrehkur3w2wsscvbnnmjjkkkkkllppppp00000000000009de356ukkmklkhfdssw346uoojhfdsrthhjkkkoo8trr57iiikk,klooiuyyjkkkkkkkkiooooiooooo

      It’s comimg november 6, 2017.

  • adrian12369

    im proud:)

  • Space dad

    yes son, not only are you proud but im proud. now we can be a family again. *ahem hope someone notices the quote…

    • SakuMo

      Dad, are you in space? :O

    • Total911

      No, I doubt it. The Portal 2 quote is “Now we are a family again”. I think he meant the entire comment was a quote.
      Also your quote was wrong too. He says “Dad, are you space?”

    • SakuMo

      I distinctly remember an “in” in there, but whatevs. Not like I care about being 100% accurate.

  • FLUDD

    lol Remember when people said the 3DS wouldn’t sell? XD

    • stephen

      i remember getting into a unintentional argument on you tube with a sony fanboy who said the ps vita would sell way more than the 3ds.

  • SakuMo

    So all the “The 3DS is a dead platform” talk can go away now, right? :T

    • paulrenzo

      Nope. Just like people couldn’t get over the fact that the Wii wasn’t a fad

  • The Video Gamer

    And considering the DS went on to sell over 150 million units, well, I think we can safely assume the 3DS has bright future.

  • SEGAGIGA

    @ Nintedorks
    “The 3DS has sold over 5,000,000 units in Japan in under one year”

    The Nintendo 3DS was released in Japan on February 26th. It’s only 02/21/11 where I am, that’s at least a week more to go before it becomes 1 year.

    • me

      so 3ds has sold over 5 million units in less then a year?

  • https://en.gravatar.com/thetechguy27 TheTEChguy27

    Took a while, but I think the 3DS has finally found its spot in the market.

  • Cris

    Ok I think you all don’t know WHY the 3DS has sold over 5,000,000. It has Monster Hunter. MONSTER HUNTER. Monster Hunter In Japan is the biggest thing in the universe. The reason why it sold so well and shot up out of no where is because that’s when Monster Hunter came out.

  • http://Nintendo3DSBlog jack860

    The 3ds has sold 15 million world wide and it hasn’t even been a year since it was release. I dont even think the ds has sold that much within a year.

    That is epic success!!!

    Not so sure about the vita though.

    • Mariobro3000

      The Vita is seriously getting a spanking by the 3DS. WHO’S YOUR DADDY NOW VITA

  • Han Solo

    I don’t understand how people can say, “Yeah Nintendo is going under!” Awesome news. Nintendo seems to be doing great.

  • sam765

    Ì still think the Vita will catch up sooner or later because the bigger OLED screen is so fuckin’ beautiful…but Sony has to lower the price below the 3DS to accomplish this…

    • Peter

      I don’t think Sony will lower the price of the Vita… See, the 3ds could because it really didn’t have $250 hardware, but the Vita should really cost more than 300 dollars. If Sony lowers the price any lower, they’ll still lose a lot of money.

    • Wakasaki808

      All I know is that i won’t be getting the Vita till some better games come out or it gets cheaper. I would need to shell out at least 300 just to play a game. $250 for Vita, $20 for at least a 4gb mem stick(required and specially made by Sony), and at least 30 for a game. 300 all requried to play a Vita specific game is too much to justify me getting one now. I want one but not that badly.

      I will be happy playing my 3DS and waiting for Luigi’s Mansion 2, Kingdom Hearts, and Kid Icarus when they come out. For now its Mario Kart 7, and Resident Evil: Rev.

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/powerclaw1 powerclaw1

    And the Sony fanboys said it was gonna be a flop.

  • http://Nintendo3DSBlog jack860

    Well that blowed up in the vita fanboy facies, plus besides the vita is failing in japan due to the overpriced sony brand memory cards, lack of backwards capability with psp games on umd and something else I forgot.

    The 32GB card cost almost as much as a 3ds.

  • FLUDD

    Is this the fastest selling console ever? Or does another console beat it?

    • http://Nintendo3DSBlog jack860

      To my knowledge this is the most fastest selling console.

  • Mariobro3000

    Nintendo should use the money to make a Nintendo HDS

    • uhga buga

      nxt gerneration my friend but it will be HD3DS =D

  • Daniel

    From the way the numbers look, looks like the 3DS took off in sales right around the time of the price drop. As to be expected.

  • http://wiiuplaza.com Tyler Thompson

    Let’s just hope North America and Europe open their eyes and realize this is an amazing console.

  • Dranza1

    Looks like the 3ds has a good head-start. Lets see what Sony attempts to do to gain ground.

  • Ed

    Yep…the 3DS is dead in the water. Failed console. The mobile phones were just too much to overcome.

  • uhga buga

    woot go Nintendo and fuk those ppl thinking smart phones gona take over LMAO NOT GONA HAPPEN

  • chaozuper

    considering i live in a country of about 6 million, that’s … wow.

  • Zeldafan64

    Sweet. Good for Ninty. Love the 3DS great games.