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DS Sells 20 million, 17 Million More by March 2007
Wowzer writes "Nintendo announced today that sales of its hand-held, dual-screened video game player, the Nintendo DS, have topped 20 million worldwide (guesstimates say 21,270,000). Nintendo expects DS (Lite) sales to be 17 million between April 2006 and March 2007. From today's financial report: 'The company raised its full-year sales forecast of the DS handheld game players to 17 million units for the year ending March 2007, up from 16 million unit sales projection made in May. Sales of DS game titles are projected to rise to 75 million units, from 70 million.' The report refers to PSP owners as just combat-game fans, while the DS is said to target a wider audience with more diverse games such as the 6 million seller Nintendogs." I will say, I was very skeptical when I first heard about the DS and the split screen — but having played a number of different games, I've found I like it. But I have not played Nintendogs, unlike some other people I know.
..There are a lot more general gamers than hardcore gamers? Perhaps. I think it proves Nintendo released a superior product, personally.
Colonel Cranium this is Rectal Reconnaissance, we are on a collision course sir, Abort Abort!
And she was the kind of person who never let us have a console game after the Apple II+ showed up (we had an Atari 2600 before that). Every $PRESENT_GETTING_TIME, we'd ask for a playstation, or nintendo, or something, but we were always told "No, you have a computer, it plays games, no consoles". So we went without. My wife bought me a PSX back in '96, but I haven't upgraded since.
Then a few weeks ago I got a DS Lite and my mom visited for a few days. She started playing Brain Age and that was it. When they left, my dad asked how much they were and where they could be purchased. A week later, she's busy playing Sudoku and Mario on her own DS Lite.
If you want to get one and your spouse gives you a wary eye, go get it and get Brain Age at the same time. You'll be a hero. But you may wind up arguing who gets to play with it.
We own two. One for the son (blue), one for the doughter (pink).
My wife and I like the brain training games so two units are used by four people.
I'm sure my mum (79 years of age) will like the brain training games too so I bought a DS lite (white) with two games for her which I will give to her next Saturday.
What makes a god-fearing, law-abiding family father buy expensive electronic toys? High amounts if good (and mostly clean) fun!!!
I' still think I'm not a Nintendo fanboy but I sure like the stuff they make!
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
Nintendo would be able to at least add a 1 to those numbers if they released the black DS Lite in the USA (a.k.a. "I'd buy one"). Even though it has some nice hardware (touchscreen, built-in WiFi, mic, ARM processor), I was also skeptical of the DS at first: "Oh come on, how many developers are going to make use of the touch screen"... thankfully my skepticism was vanquished when developers came through with real creativity and awesomeness. Add to the awesome games the ability to play movies and mp3's (http://www.lik-sang.com/news.php?artc=3834), run Linux (url:http://www.dslinux.org/>), and the awesome looks of the machine... and you have an unstoppable portable.
...if they were only in black (and the cool dark navy blue... and the blue "ice").
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
If they bring something besides Hyper White DS Lite to the states. I've got a platinum DS, and I like it, but I want a new one. Two DS's would also open up multiplayer Mario Kart, Mario64, and Tetris with my wife, and she could get her own Nintendogs. Come on, Nintendo! Give America the other DS Lite colors! And don't bundle them with something, please. Unless you let me choose what game I want in the 'bundle', then we can work something out. Black/Navy Blue DS Lite to the states! Send 'em over. As long as we don't have to deal with Guy, The Adversary to get them. http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/06/09
But I know I'll be getting one around this Holiday season, and it seems to go quite well with my plans to get a Wii around the same timeframe as well.
It certainly isn't a make-or-break reason for the Wii console, but it does put another mark in the "+" column when doing comparisons.
I know I'm not in the majority here when I say that I played Crystal Chronicles with friends using the GBA, but I think that the majority of those who have can say that it was a satisfying game experience (no waiting for teammates to select things from the menu for example). Perhaps the people here who have also played Four Swords (the Zelda game) also agree with the idea that GBA connectivity, when available, added to the game favorably, or at the least, didn't detract from it?
but what are the latest worldwide shipped figures for the PSP?
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Nintendo, just like Apple, understands something that others still don't: it's not all about hardware and raw power anymore. Who cares if the Wii is less powerful than the Xbox 360 and PS3? Who cares if the Nintendo DS is less powerful than the PSP? In the end, it's all about innovation and software.
The iPod would be almost useless without iTunes (the program, not the iTMS - iTunes Music Store), and the Nintendo DS would be pointless if all it could play was the same games as on the SNES/N64/Gamecube.
More processing power? Sure. Better graphics? Of course. But not at the expense of innovation and good software.
I don't remember who said it, but it goes something like this: "The most powerful computer on the planet would be useless without software to run on it."
I don't have the worldwide numbers but it is interesting to note that June (because of the DSlite release) is the only month since last November that the DS outsold the PSP in the US
sorces
You misspelled "outshipped". There's a stack of PSPs at Wal-Mart, but I can't find a DS Lite in my whole city.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
That doesn't mean too much to me. Walmart is well known for their ability to manage JIT inventory. Just because they don't have a DS doesn't mean it sold out. Just because they have PSPs lying around doesn't mean they're not selling. You can't read anything into inventory lying around. I went to Circuit City last week and they had a million DS games and not one PSP game even though they had the hardware and accessories for both...so the PSP games must be selling out completely?
Nintendo themselves has said they've passed 21 million.
Source - this is off PR Newswire, so it's a regular press release.
Not to mention the idea of posting this article without a reliable news source. Blogging a quarterly shareholder meeting is one thing, but when Nintendo has released press releases with the same information, why bother falling back on a pretty-much no-name blog? And if you don't think PGC is "reliable", then pick one more to your liking. Preferably one without a stupid animated GIF in it.
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
My mom just got one too. And this after suffering through years of me playing Atari and the NES, she was the last person who I thought would ever express an interest in video games.
But she saw an add for Brain Training and had to have it. After looking all over town for a DS Lite, she finally got one at WalMart and I haven't heard from her since....
These pretzels are making me thirsty.
I think there are problems at Bentonville with regards to DS shipments. I went by the local one last week looking for a DS Lite for my wife and was told they didnt have their second shipment yet. Went to another and found they said the same thing. Finally went to a Target a few miles further down the road and found they had 2 in stock.
Huh, I can't think of any reason why that could be...
(Sorry, I usually try not to be a fanboy, but this one I couldn't resist.)
It may be cutesy, but Animal Crossing is a lot of fun. It's what I wanted The Sims to be like. I haven't visited anyone via the net yet, that's my next task.
It's also a good game to sit and take a casual half hour break with every day or two, so it really focuses on a different part of the potential gaming audience.
I had no fundamental objection to the PSP, and there were 3 or 4 games I'd have played on it, but when I tried one the loading times were really intolerable.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
It means alot, actually. Nintendo have sold over 20 million DS/DS Lites since its release. Thats to the stores and out the doors in the hands of customers. Sony have so far only release details on how many PSP's it has shipped. All that means is that Sony have delivered them to someone. Walmart might have 500,000 sitting unsold in their warehouse, but Sony still count it, whereas Nintendo dont count it unless money has changed hands between customer and retailer.
The half price DS Lites GAME is selling seem to be going pretty quick too: the last fifty took less than 30 seconds...
Almost two years ago if someone pointed to this dual screened mutant and said,
-It would lead a gaming renaissance in Japan, making the Japanese game market larger than America so far in the year 2006.
-It would outsell the PSP in all markets.
-It would be very popular among girls too.
-And popular among older people with a game called 'Brain Age'. This demographic the industry thought was impossible to reach.
-Animal Crossing Wild World would outsell Final Fantasy 12 in Japan (could Final Fantasy 3 outsell FF12?)
-A game called Nintendogs will outsell Halo and is set to outsell Halo 2.
-Companies like Electronic Arts will struggle on the system as they do not know how to deal with disruption technology. But smaller companies like Atlus shall rise.
-Let's not forget a new 2D Mario (after fifteen years) turning the markets on fire everywhere.
You would think the person had gone mad. And many people thought Nintendo had gone mad in late 2004 (just as many thought they had gone mad with the Wii)
Where is the PSP? Well, the software for the PSP is abysmal in Japan. The DS sales lead over the PSP in Japan is so gigantic that if you begin to combine PSP markets, the PSP still doesn't outsell the DS.
So what is different? Nintendo sees the DS's true competition of those who aren't interested in games at all. The company mission is taking affect: "Make as many gamers as possible."
Two years ago...
-Japan had been in a slow decline and analysts were wondering if it worth the effort to 'win' Japan anymore.
-Everyone predicted the PSP would do to the DS what Playstation did to the Nintendo consoles.
-America's game market was extremely healthy with blockbusters like GTA: SA and Halo 2.
-Nintendo was about to go third party.
Now...
-Japan's game market is now bigger than America's and is rapidly expanding.
-Everyone's lofty PSP predictions now have egg on their face.
-America's game market has been in free-fall since 2004. People are ignoring this issue and calling it a 'transition period' without mentioning that the next-gen systems out such as the PSP and Xbox 360 are not growing the market in any way.
-Nintendo swims in profits.
Anyone who believes the seventh generation of consoles will match the PS2 era is deluding themselves. Let the Seventh Generation of Consoles be known as the Fragmentation Era as the games market is dividing into seperate realms.
Welcome to the new world.
For the same reason you can't connect to a Wi-Fi network using a Bluetooth adapter. Just because it's radio doesn't mean it's the same frequency, the same modulation, the same data link protocol, or the same network protocol.
I understand that, however due to the relatively close timing of the 2 product launches (GBA Wireless in Early 2004, the DS in Late 2004) in just seems like a missed opportunity for Nintendo to make them compatible.
And the Japanese gaming market was always larger than the USAs. Unless you go back to the days of Atari and Intellivision.
Like I said, it's comparing apples to oranges. You can't compare units shipped to units sold. So unlike your conclusion, it means nothing. Not to mention that Nintendo's method of tracking units sold to customers is spotty at best. How can they know exactly how many were sold unless the retailer tells them? And is it really in the retailer's best interest to report how many units they've actually sold?
a) There's only so much inventory a retailer's going to have lying around. If the PSP didn't sell no retailer would order more from Sony.
b) If Nintendo doesn't want people to compare Sony's shipped versus their sold figures all they have to do is publish their own shipped figures. They just have to add it as an afterthought to the sold figures (20 million sold and over 768 million shipped).
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
I'd like to see the numbers of both sold AND shipped psp's. (why compare Sonys shipped numbers to Nintendos sold numbers?)
psp has been out selling the ds in America but psp games haven't done nearly as well.
(maybe locoroco and tekken will help change that. doesn't look like it though)
17.03 Million as of March 31st. Quite out of date, but expect new numbers in the next few days.
Think logically here. Consider the system as a flow, from Sony to the retailer, and from the retailer to the customer. Units shipped/month measures the flow rate to the retailer, units sold/month measured the flow rate to the customer. In practice, the two rates are roughly equal. The retailer might keep some inventory, but that's irrelevent. What's relevant is that the retailer isn't going to keep a continually growing inventory. For the size of the inventory to remain constant, the number of units shipped to the retailer wil be the same as the number of units sold to the customer.
In other words, if Sony is consistently shipping 500k units/month, that means 500k units/month are getting sold through retail channels, on average. If the systems weren't selling, retailers would drop their orders for the next month, and we'd see that in the sales figures. The only place where the size of the inventory matters is in judging total units sold, which is different from the total units shipped by the size of the inventory. Inventories are non-zero, but they're quite small in the case of modern retailers (nowhere near your 500k figure). Warehousing unsold product is very expensive, both for the storage itself and because of the capital tied up in stored merchandise. Therefore, retailers very rarely keep large inventories.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
EXPENSIVE?
If Dell, HP, or any of the "PDA" manufacturers made a touch-screen portable device with 2 screens, that looks as sexy as the new DS Lite, they'd be slapping a $600+ price tag on the thing.
At $129, the DS is a BARGAIN.
I'm not sure if its the same with the DS, but all the major retailers DID report sales for the GBA SP. As soon as the unit was rung up and the serial number scanned (which is why it was visible from outside the box), the serial, date, and name/location of the store was sent on to Nintendo. That's part of how they kept track of warranty information.
I found this out first-hand when I tried to exchange a silver SP (still unopened) that I bought on clearance at K*B for a black one at Wal-Mart the next day. The customer service lady refused to take the exchange, since she knew it wasn't sold by Wal-Mart. I would say being able to detect fraudulent returns *is* in the retailer's best interest.