DS Reaches 10 Million Milestone In Europe

Officials from Nintendo of Europe have announced that the Nintendo DS console has become the fastest console ever to sell ten million units in Europe, after one year and ten months on sale. According to Nintendo the ten million figure represents sell through to customers, not shipped units to retailers, with 1.7 million consoles being sold in December alone in Europe. In addition, an update of software figures shows that Nintendogs has now sold over five million copies in Europe since its launch in October 2005 – more than either North America or Japan. Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training (aka Brain Age) has now sold over two million units since June 2006, while still currently performing well in most European charts. Other Nintendo DS titles to have exceeded one million sales in Europe include New Super Mario Bros., Super Mario 64 DS, Mario Kart DS, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon and Animal Crossing: Wild World. Although all the million selling titles are published by Nintendo third party games such as The Sims 2 Pets (Electronic Arts), Sonic Rush (Sega) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (Buena Vista Games) are described as “selling at a significant rate”. Nintendo of Europe previously claimed that sales of the Wii and Nintendo DS together accounted for more than half of all European video game hardware sales in December. Nintendo’s recently upgraded hardware sales predictions call for 23 million Nintendo DS to be sold by the end of March 2007: 4.8 million in Japan, 2.9 in the Americas and 3.8 million in the rest of the world. “Nintendo DS topped the six million mark in September and has continued to go from strength to strength with thousands of new people being introduced to gaming through the Nintendo DS. Its appeal to both gamers and non-gamers means it has expanded the gaming population significantly. This landmark figure of 10 million Nintendo DS gamers cements the console’s position as undisputed leader of the handheld market, bringing gaming to a whole new audience - something that was unimaginable a few years ago!," said Laurent Fischer, European marketing director. “The innovative Nintendo DS is now helping to shape the whole market with sales of the Nintendo DS console and games being the main drivers behind recent market growth all across Europe.”