Nintendo Claims DS Dominance In Europe

Officials from Nintendo of Europe have announced that the DS Lite has sold more than 200,000 units in ten days, following its European launch on June 23rd, and are claiming the DS now leads the handheld market in Europe, ahead of the PSP. The significance of the figure is hard to quantify, but it is certainly comparable to the 136,500 units sold in the United States after just two days. As ever, the performance of the hardware varies wildly from country to country within Europe, with the UK reporting a “quiet” launch of 35,000 units in the opening weekend, while the console has performed better in more traditional Nintendo heartlands such as France and Germany. According to Nintendo of Europe, the Nintendo DS has now secured the lead in the handheld market in Europe, with sales of the format exceeding 5 million. No sales figures from Sony are available to compare directly, with only a “shipped” figure of almost 6 million for all territories bar North America and Japan. In terms of software, Nintendogs continues to be the best-selling Nintendo DS title in Europe, with a total in excess of 3 million copies – greater than that for either Japan or North America. Animal Crossing: Wild World, which launched in March in Europe, has also performed well, with over 600,000 units sold so far, while Brain Training (aka Brain Age) has already sold over 250,000 units after just over a month on release.