Nintendo DS Lite Sells Big in Japan

[score]

Game-Science (http://game-science.com/news/001361.php) reports:



At a recent sales and product explanation meeting for retailers, Nintendo revealed that in its first four days of availability since May 25, New Super Mario Bros. sold through 900,000 copies in Japan. This makes it by far the best debuting DS game ever, and one of the highest debut for a game in Japan in the last few years, topped only by recent hits such as Final Fantasy XII, Dragon Quest VIII and Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen.

Nintendo also mentioned that 950,000 DS Lite systems were sold in April (not including the older model, which also sold well). That brings total DS sales to 8.4 Million in Japan alone. Another notable success was Tetris DS, which shipped through 800,000 units in 4 weeks.


Anyone else addicted to the whack a beaver mini game in NSMB?

[netcraazzy]

Anyone else addicted to the whack a beaver mini game in NSMB?

I would be if they could hurry up and release the DS lite over here. I'm a little disappointed that they didn't launch the lite with the new super mario brothers game.

[Trickyicky]

8.4 million in just Japan... I don't own a DS, but that's an impressive number. I might have to pick one up when the Lite comes out and really give the system a run.

[Liquidize105]

Some people played their DS in their seats prior to the Nintendo briefing and they wouldn't turn them off til the very last minute.

Didn't see one PSP in sight. Guess I sort of figured PSP as a car accessory that you leave in the car.

[Stevercakes]

Wish I could play some DS right now but I do not have a DS =( And getting a DS now would not make any sense since the DS lite is coming very soon... so excited...

[antoniogaud]

I seem to recall that near everyone thought Nintendo 'dead' about 3 years ago... Funny how things change.

[AversionFX]

Wow.

Can't say I'm surprised in the slightest.

[Zurik]

And people said that Nintendo needs to make new games, not endless sequels.

[gzsfrk]

And people said that Nintendo needs to make new games, not endless sequels.

Who the hell said that? I'll take all the quality Mario platformers and Zelda adventures Nintendo can produce. As long as they don't dillute the quality and keep innovating on at least SOME level, I'm their minion. (Which isn't to say I don't still loves me some Xbox and PS2 [for Guitar Hero, at least].)

Man... My wife's getting me a DS Lite for my birthday, which is still a month and a half away (7/14 if you're keeping score; feel free to send PayPal =), and it can't come quick enough. Can't wait to break in some NSMB, Brain Age, and WarioWare:Touched!.

[EvilBob46]

And people said that Nintendo needs to make new games, not endless sequels.

The DS has achieved success in Japan because of Nintendo's array of casual games like Nintendogs and Brain Training, which are original properties. I think the DS has had a good amount of quirky original stuff and quality games in existing franchises, satisfying both audiences.

And I think it's funny that you complain about endless sequels and ports, since you're the guy that sold his DS for a PSP.

[TrackZero]

Anyone else addicted to the whack a beaver mini game in NSMB?

Not addicted, but I definitely enjoyed it. All DS games should throw in mini-games while they're at it. Extra value FTW!

[Zeal]

In related news

Japanese retailers have begin to accept reservation of the Nintendo Wii console, while an official price hasn't been announced, some Japanese retailers are expecting the price of Wii to be 18,000 yen (US$160).
If it's that cheap, even I'll grab one. Pocket change.

[Banacek]

If it's that cheap, even I'll grab one. Pocket change.

Wow, that is cheap. I'll take one.

[donkeydrop]

Well, there's an obvious lesson here for the rest of the handheld market .... you can make more money by putting out an inferior product and then a year later replacing it with a better version. Even though Nintendo launched earlier and had a 1 million plus head-start the PSP had overtaken the DS in sales (17.0 mill to 16.6 mill worldwide as of a few weeks ago), but now along comes DS-lite with another 1.6 mill sales.

I can't wait for "PSP-lite", then "DS-lite SP" , then "PSP super mega edition", etc, etc, etc

[Opty]

Well, there's an obvious lesson here for the rest of the handheld market .... you can make more money by putting out an inferior product and then a year later replacing it with a better version. Even though Nintendo launched earlier and had a 1 million plus head-start the PSP had overtaken the DS in sales (17.0 mill to 16.6 mill worldwide as of a few weeks ago), but now along comes DS-lite with another 1.6 mill sales.

I can't wait for "PSP-lite", then "DS-lite SP" , then "PSP super mega edition", etc, etc, etc

Where are you getting your numbers from? One, Sony's numbers are PSPs shipped to retailers rather than units sold like Nintendo's, and two, I highly doubt that the PSP was ever ahead of the DS worldwide. Maybe in America and/or Europe, but definitely not worldwide.

[Samo Umer]

<massive damage> Even though Nintendo launched earlier and had a 1 million plus head-start the PSP had overtaken the DS in sales </massive damage>

[Global Goblin]

NSMB 2 please.

[Banacek]

PSP... 17.0 mill worldwide...

hahaha, do people believe that?

Anyway, how many different versions have the Gameboys had over the years. Nothing new here. In Japan they're always a guaranteed best-seller.

[thecrazyd]

Well, there's an obvious lesson here for the rest of the handheld market .... you can make more money by putting out an inferior product and then a year later replacing it with a better version. Even though Nintendo launched earlier and had a 1 million plus head-start the PSP had overtaken the DS in sales (17.0 mill to 16.6 mill worldwide as of a few weeks ago), but now along comes DS-lite with another 1.6 mill sales.

I can't wait for "PSP-lite", then "DS-lite SP" , then "PSP super mega edition", etc, etc, etc
You got a link for those numbers? They smell a bit like bullshit from here. You also need to note that Sony counts numbers shipped while Nintendo counts numbers sold.

[Vanthar]

lol how do you people know what numbers Nintendo counts unless you work for them?

[31 Flavas]

lol how do you people know what numbers Nintendo counts unless you work for them?Uh... Nintendo quite clearly stated at their E3 '06 Media Briefing that their numbers are only sold to customers numbers.

[benig]

If you guys check out Target, some of them have broken street date including mine.

[shnastybiznastic]

lol how do you people know what numbers Nintendo counts unless you work for them?
Because when a publicly traded company makes it's financial reports, it's customary to report the impact that the new product is having. Since these reports are what investors will look at when considering how much money to put into any given company, the pressure to make it look good is huge. In Sony's quarterly financial report, they used the "units shipped" designator as opposed to "units sold"; Probably thinking that a larger number of units shipped would make them look like they arent loosing quite as badly to the DS as they are. Nintendo, onthe other hand, used the "units sold" designator, indicating that they collaborated data from the shops that report it in making the report.

Units Sold is a much more telling indicator of the popularity of a product, but you have to wait for the places that report thier sales to tell you. Units Shipped is more immediate, but only indicates the efficency of your infrastructure, not the popularity of your product.

edit: added information.

[Kelegacy]

If you guys check out Target, some of them have broken street date including mine.
That would be amazing. I'd like one RIGHT NOW. Buy it and send it to me, I'll pay for shipping. :)

[Vanthar]

Uh... Nintendo quite clearly stated at their E3 '06 Media Briefing that their numbers are only sold to customers numbers.

Yeah, stores are customers. Nintendo sold all those DS's to EB games and wal-mart. So we have units sold. You assume Nintendo took the moral high ground and is reporting the more 'accurate' numbers, but Sony could be doing the same thing and actually using the more accurate wording. I'm sorry but it's really a moot point because there's no way you can honestly know.

[shnastybiznastic]

Yeah, stores are customers. Nintendo sold all those DS's to EB games and wal-mart. So we have units sold.
That's not how it works.

You assume Nintendo took the moral high ground and is reporting the more 'accurate' numbers, but Sony could be doing the same thing and actually using the more accurate wording.
If this were happening, then it would be a form of fraud, since it's misrepresenting sales numbers to investors.

[Chris_D]

In the 3 months since I arrived, I've seen 1 PSP "in the wild", while half the kids in my classes have DSs (some of the scumbags even have lites). I'm not surprised...

[MaiXu]

I want a DS Lite so bad ... and now I see that Europe is getting a black DS Lite? SHIT! Where do I go to import one of those?

[antoniogaud]

Well, we’ve just been contacted by Nintendo to correct us on this. It seems that quite a few more than 10 million have been sold so far. European sales of over 3.5 million DS units combined with the 4 million DS units sold in the US and more than 5 million sold in Japan actually brings the worldwide total closer to 13 million.

European sales of the DS have been considerably bolstered by the launch of SPOnG’s current favourites, Nintendogs and Mario Kart. Nintendogs has sold 1.6 million copies in Europe since launch in October and Mario Kart DS, which stormed the Christmas charts with its global Wi-Fi capabilities, has sold in excess of 800,000 copies in Europe since its late November launch.

Compare these astounding figures with the worldwide sales of the PSP, which is in the region of 7 million units, and you can see that the DS has nearly sold at a rate of 2 to 1 against Sony’s machine, which is graphically superior but is still to wow both hardcore and casual gamers with some must-have games.

Although this data is from January (http://news.spong.com/detail/news.jsp?prid=9483&cb=579), it shows that the person who posted that PSP had 17 million in sales is clearly smoking something.

[Wasson_]

The DS...I still think it's a little wonkey and strange, but whenever I read about the games available and this recent upgrade. Makes me wanna pick one up.

[31 Flavas]

Yeah, stores are customers. Nintendo sold all those DS's to EB games and wal-mart.That's what units shipped is dumbass.

Honestly, Point of Sales Purchase, (sold to customers numbers) is why Media Crate, NPD, and others exist. They count the actual sales numbers and then sell them off. Nintendo doesn't and can not know any of this because they are not the ones selling any of it. They manufacture it and ship it off to Wal*mart, Target, BestBuy, and who ever.

You assume Nintendo took the moral high ground and is reporting the more 'accurate' numbers,Like I said, Nintendo make it perfectly clear... Sold to Customers. Not shipped to stores or shipped to the middle of the pacific.

but Sony could be doing the same thing and actually using the more accurate wording. I'm sorry but it's really a moot point because there's no way you can honestly know.You don't even have to fast forward though Sony's press confrence, Kaz tells you pretty much as the very first thing how many PSP units Sony has SHIPPED. Why does Kaz tell us Shipped verses Sold to customers numbers?

You're quite oblivious if you think sold to customer numbers are some unobtainable information. Sony is giving shipped numbers to save face.

[donkeydrop]

You got a link for those numbers? They smell a bit like bullshit from here. You also need to note that Sony counts numbers shipped while Nintendo counts numbers sold.
The numbers are what the two companies presented at E3. Although there are conspiracy theories about what is being counted, I would like to point out two things:

- When you ship electronics to a retailer, it's sold. You've got your money and the store can't turn around and say give me my money back. If they can't sell it to a consumer it's tough luck for them. About the only product I can think of that's not like that are books.

- Nintendo or Sony are both publicly traded companies. If they lie about their sales, people go to prison.

So if Kutaragi says they sold 17 million PSP's which is more likely, (a) he's telling the truth, or (b) he wants to share a cell with the guy from Enron.

[Nintendo Revolution]

One awesome thing is the minigames has multiplayer now. Its a blast to play them.

[LycoLoco]

So if Kutaragi says they sold 17 million PSP's which is more likely, (a) he's telling the truth, or (b) he wants to share a cell with the guy from Enron. It's not that either Kutaragi or Iwata are lying. They're both telling the truth. However one is using spin to make his company's numbers sound better than they are and the other is pointing out actual units sold to people playing games, not the stores. The terms "units shipped" and "units sold" are used quite often in the gaming industry and the terms have been defined as they were earlier in this thread. Shipped = To Stores. Sold = To (game playing) Customers.

[antoniogaud]

When you ship electronics to a retailer, it's sold. You've got your money and the store can't turn around and say give me my money back. If they can't sell it to a consumer it's tough luck for them.

Actually, its common to sell back unsold units. Done all the time. Often its part of the contract between the vendor and the retailer.

I doubt Sony has sold more PSP to consumers than DS's. Just seems impossible to me.

[donkeydrop]

Oh, and before someone points out that Sony lied about PS3 features at E3 in 2005, yes, they did. That's why all presentations like that have a disclaimer that goes something like "contains forward-looking statements ... management expectations ...blah blah blah". These are the weasel words that get you off the hook when you talk about what will happen in the future. But you can't lie about sales or its off to the slammer. So chill, go check these videos and have a laugh: ;)

Console Wars (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqOdUrouRhY)

2005 lies (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wzmf0ChL24)

$600 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtAAobeudDQ)

Lex Luthor versus Kaz Hirai (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ir2Pyez9Ok)

Encore PS3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEz3g-Zxi_I)

I dont care (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqMi4R07MCk)

[31 Flavas]

- When you ship electronics to a retailer, it's sold. You've got your money and the store can't turn around and say give me my money back. If they can't sell it to a consumer it's tough luck for them. About the only product I can think of that's not like that are books.Oh sure, but that's totally beside the point. That's units shipped. It's the only thing Sony or Microsoft or Nintendo ever directly know about. So if they need to give some quick numbers or if they need to give numbers that make it look like the product is selling well. Then you give "units/games SHIPPED".

But "units/games SOLD" to the actual end customer are more meaningful though. These numbers can be obtained by both the company selling the product and the public at large. Although NPD will charge you something like $50,000 per year. Which is why the Japanese Media Crate numbers are more commonly cited (posted free on a weekly basis).

So if Kutaragi says they sold 17 million PSP's which is more likely, (a) he's telling the truth, or (b) he wants to share a cell with the guy from Enron.Well, I just watched the PSP part of Sony's E3 '06 press confrence again.

Kaz Hirai said neither, but he did purposefully try to be confusing about it. He told us PSP is Sony's fastest selling platform to date, but then showed us slides of how many units Sony has shipped, as opposed to sold to customers. So Kaz is telling us the truth that the numbers are shipped numbers, but in a dilberatly confusing way. In otherwords, par for the course with Sony.

[donkeydrop]

Actually, its common to sell back unsold units. Done all the time. Often its part of the contract between the vendor and the retailer.

I doubt Sony has sold more PSP to consumers than DS's. Just seems impossible to me.
Do you have some evidence that Sony or any of the major electronics companies is doing this? I know for a fact that Apple did it back in the mid-90s but that was during their darkest days, and even then they only allowed retailers to return a fraction of their unsold units for credit. A company would really have to be desperate before agreeing to allow returns of unsold units.

[Nessus]

Uh, the DS and PSP have been essentially neck and neck in North America for over a year. Like, within 30k of eachother for monthly sales. The GBA constantly outsells both.

In Japan DS has been selling more than all other consoles combined lately.

Not sure how Europe looks, but DS *was* ahead in Europe earlier this year, that might have changed, though.

Either way, there's no way the PSP is significantly ahead world wide. They'd have to be pulling Japan DS-like numbers in the other territories to even match the DS, let alone move into first.

[Kamalot]

Because when a publicly traded company makes it's financial reports, it's customary to report the impact that the new product is having. Since these reports are what investors will look at when considering how much money to put into any given company, the pressure to make it look good is huge. In Sony's quarterly financial report, they used the "units shipped" designator as opposed to "units sold"; Probably thinking that a larger number of units shipped would make them look like they arent loosing quite as badly to the DS as they are. Nintendo, onthe other hand, used the "units sold" designator, indicating that they collaborated data from the shops that report it in making the report.

Units Sold is a much more telling indicator of the popularity of a product, but you have to wait for the places that report thier sales to tell you. Units Shipped is more immediate, but only indicates the efficency of your infrastructure, not the popularity of your product.

edit: added information.This is an amazing post.
Thank You :)

[donkeydrop]

Uh, the DS and PSP have been essentially neck and neck in North America for over a year. Like, within 30k of eachother for monthly sales. The GBA constantly outsells both.

In Japan DS has been selling more than all other consoles combined lately.

Not sure how Europe looks, but DS *was* ahead in Europe earlier this year, that might have changed, though.

Either way, there's no way the PSP is significantly ahead world wide. They'd have to be pulling Japan DS-like numbers in the other territories to even match the DS, let alone move into first.
For what it's worth, and again these are the companies own numbers presented at E3, DS is ahead by 1.9 million in Japan/Asia, but behind PSP by 1.1 million in both US and Europe/Rest of World.

[Kamalot]

For what it's worth, and again these are the companies own numbers presented at E3, DS is ahead by 1.9 million in Japan/Asia, but behind PSP by 1.1 million in both US and Europe/Rest of World.
That may be true, but the numbers presented are measuring two different things. I suggest you start at the first page and read through it again. This is a great thread that everyone should be aware of.

[Rook34]

I won't get started on the whole shipped vs sold, because others have put it so eloquently; but the proof's in the pudding - I have only seen a single PSP "in the wild" to date also. But I know at least a dozen people who own DS's and always have good things to say about it. The games are fun, addictive, and can be as engaging as you want them to be.

[donkeydrop]

I won't get started on the whole shipped vs sold, because others have put it so eloquently; but the proof's in the pudding - I have only seen a single PSP "in the wild" to date also. But I know at least a dozen people who own DS's and always have good things to say about it. The games are fun, addictive, and can be as engaging as you want them to be.

I guess your experience is a lot different that mine. I travel quite a bit in the US and Europe and I regularly see adults and children playing PSP on planes and trains. I've seen plenty of children with GBA's but never adults (well, except me), and no DS's at all. I was talking with a friend about this a few weeks ago, and it seemed to us that adults are embarassed to be seen playing with GBA or DS as other adults tend to view it as a kid's toy, but PSP is more "accepted".

[Kamalot]

I guess your experience is a lot different that mine. I travel quite a bit in the US and Europe and I regularly see adults and children playing PSP on planes and trains. I've seen plenty of children with GBA's but never adults (well, except me), and no DS's at all. I was talking with a friend about this a few weeks ago, and it seemed to us that adults are embarassed to be seen playing with GBA or DS as other adults tend to view it as a kid's toy, but PSP is more "accepted".
Well, it is clear that anecdotal evidence is quite an unscientific measure, considering the disparate numbers.

[LiquidRain]

Anecdotal evidence: A few guys on a forum said it, so it must be true.

:)

[LycoLoco]

I guess your experience is a lot different that mine. I travel quite a bit in the US and Europe and I regularly see adults and children playing PSP on planes and trains. I've seen plenty of children with GBA's but never adults (well, except me), and no DS's at all. I was talking with a friend about this a few weeks ago, and it seemed to us that adults are embarassed to be seen playing with GBA or DS as other adults tend to view it as a kid's toy, but PSP is more "accepted".Well, it is clear that anecdotal evidence is quite an unscientific measure, considering the disparate numbers. We also have to look at where he lives as well. Urban areas with lots of public transit and professional-business-types are probably going to turn out to have more people playing PSPs on a bus or subway just because these higher ups want to be seen with a slick looking device, regardless of how much fun it really is, and until the DS Lite got released, the DS hasn't had that slick appeal to a lot of people, just the games (and, ya know, who cares about those?!?). All I'm sayin is you've gotta look at your sample before you can really say whether the anecdote is valid for the general population.

[Nessus]

(for the record the charts I saw were on Gaming Age Forums made using NDP figures, so there was no shipped vs. sold discrepancy)

But yeah, on the topic of DS vs. PSP Loco Roco is the first game for PSP that I actually really, really want, but not enough to get a PSP. Maybe after a price drop.

[shnastybiznastic]

This is an amazing post.
Thanks, every once in a while, I like to say something non-inflammatory. :)

[Hellstorm]

I remember someone on here saying the DS doesn't have anything that gamers would want. :)

[Kamalot]

I remember someone on here saying the DS doesn't have anything that gamers would want. :)
Smart people can change their mind.

[shnastybiznastic]

I remember someone on here saying the DS doesn't have anything that gamers would want. :)
On the one hand, I want to tell you to leave the poor guy alone. On the other hand, it's still damn funny. :D

As an explanation for Evil posting Nintendo news, I think he got himself a DS lite...

[vivafletcher]

FWIW, I have seen exactly one PSP in a person's hand-- and it was a friend who wanted to show off his new PSP. I said "It's about to drop in price" and the next week it did.

He would have had buyer's remorse eventually...I just sped it up.

[Chameleo]

if you missed it:

Well, we’ve just been contacted by Nintendo to correct us on this. It seems that quite a few more than 10 million have been sold so far. European sales of over 3.5 million DS units combined with the 4 million DS units sold in the US and more than 5 million sold in Japan actually brings the worldwide total closer to 13 million.

European sales of the DS have been considerably bolstered by the launch of SPOnG’s current favourites, Nintendogs and Mario Kart. Nintendogs has sold 1.6 million copies in Europe since launch in October and Mario Kart DS, which stormed the Christmas charts with its global Wi-Fi capabilities, has sold in excess of 800,000 copies in Europe since its late November launch.

Compare these astounding figures with the worldwide sales of the PSP, which is in the region of 7 million units, and you can see that the DS has nearly sold at a rate of 2 to 1 against Sony’s machine, which is graphically superior but is still to wow both hardcore and casual gamers with some must-have games.

from here (http://news.spong.com/detail/news.jsp?prid=9483&cb=165)

[bapenguin]

You got a link for those numbers? They smell a bit like bullshit from here. You also need to note that Sony counts numbers shipped while Nintendo counts numbers sold.

One thing to remember. No company knows that actual numbers SOLD to the end customer. Impossible to figure out unless every single system sold reports back to the central office. They only know how many they ship to retailers.

The difference here is Nintendo has the luxury to say units sold thanks to the fact they are completely sold out.

Even the NPD doesn't know the very exact number, it's a statistical analysis I believe. I may be wrong though.

[easi]

Punish that beaver.

[pheriannath]

I love my DS Lite. :-)

I used to own a PSP, but aside from owning Wipeout and a few other titles, the only games I ever played on it were homebrew apps and emulators. A while back, I sold it and haven't regretted it for a minute.

[Kamalot]

if you missed it:



from here (http://news.spong.com/detail/news.jsp?prid=9483&cb=165)
Aren't these numbers from January?

[The Letter 3]

I seem to recall that near everyone thought Nintendo 'dead' about 3 years ago... Funny how things change.
True that. I was talking with my roomate about how Sony was so confident they had crushed Nintendo they were pretty going only after Microsoft. And now Sony is trying to copy the Wiimote by putting gyroscopes (one word?) into the dualshock.

[LycoLoco]

The difference here is Nintendo has the luxury to say units sold thanks to the fact they are completely sold out. And see, that's one thing that the PSP can't even come close to saying about anything for the platform: The system, games, or ::shudder:: UMDs. The DS has sold out on both the games aspect (I know at least Animal Crossing: Wild World was nearly impossible to find for a few weeks/months) and we all know that the DS Lite has had severe shortages in Japan, hence the late release here in the US. Sorry, Sony, but I think you've lost this round, except for those people who really want a rear view mirror for RIIIIIIIIDGE RAAAACER! (Wait...it was GT:HD, but whatever).

[mister_slim]

One thing to remember. No company knows that actual numbers SOLD to the end customer. Impossible to figure out unless every single system sold reports back to the central office. They only know how many they ship to retailers.

The difference here is Nintendo has the luxury to say units sold thanks to the fact they are completely sold out.

Even the NPD doesn't know the very exact number, it's a statistical analysis I believe. I may be wrong though.
It depends. In Japan they track sales exactly, and MediaCreate's numbers are very accurate. (They also track every package of beef from the cradle to the store, which we should be doing in the US). In the US it's going to depend on the relationship between the manufacturer and the retailer, but I'm going to guess Nintendo (and MS and Sony) can get pretty accurate sales numbers from retail. Nintendo, for example, likes to keep inventories very thin to manage retail prices, so I doubt their numbers are off by much.