The Nintendo 3DS gaming console is doing pretty well for itself as well as for the company in the US, and now it has the figures to prove it. The 3DS reportedly sold 8 million units in the US, which is a million more than its predecessor – the Nintendo DS.
The new figure comes from Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, in an interview with Gameindustry International. He also revealed not are console sales up but so are software sales.
"When the NPD numbers come out later this week, you're going to see life-to-date 3DS game sales surpass 20 million units in the US," Fils-Aime says. "And that's just physical. It doesn't include digital sales ... So far in 2013 - through April 15 - 3DS game sales are up 55 percent versus last year, counting both physical and digital."
He also notes that of the 15 game titles published by Nintendo on the 3DS, about 11 per cent of those sales this year have been digitally through the eShop. As an example, he adds that 80,000 of the 240,000 copies of "Fire Emblem" that have been sold to date have been purchased online.
"Through that connected experience, consumers have downloaded more than 41 million items from the eShop — everything from full games to applications like Nintendo video, DLC, demos, free items, and more," Fils-Aime adds.
Fils-Aime also sounded quite confident about the device’s future. He stated: “What I would say about Wii U — and what Mr. Iwata has said — is that the pace of launches has been slower than we hoped. But as we prepare for E3, the pace of launches for Wii U is going to dramatically increase.”
Nintendo announced the Nintendo 3DS back in March 2010 and officially unveiled it at E3 2010 in June.
