Nintendo Reveals 13 Million DS Sales, Gets Stock Upgrade

Nintendo has revealed total worldwide sales figures for the Nintendo DS, following Tuesday's announcement of extremely strong Japanese and American sales. As part of a statement explaining strong European DS sales, the company announced that it has sold 13 million Nintendo DS units worldwide, including sell-through numbers to date in Japan, North America, Latin America, Australia and other territories. In particular, it was highlighted that, following Nintendo DS's launch in Europe in March, almost three and a half million Nintendo DS have been sold. In Europe, sales of Nintendo DS have been significantly bolstered by the launch of games such as Nintendogs, which has sold 1.6 million copies in Europe alone since its launch in October, and Mario Kart DS, which has sold 800,000 copies in Europe since its late November launch. The Game Boy Advance has continued to sell well throughout the year, according to the firm, with new title Pokemon Emerald already reaching 1.2 million European sales since its launch in October 2005. In related news, according to a report by the Bloomberg news agency, analysts from Nikko Citigroup have raised their 12 month stock price estimate for Nintendo from ¥14,000 ($121) to ¥18,000 ($155), citing increased expectations for the success of the forthcoming Revolution console. Analysts at the firm have suggested a lifetime sales figure for the Revolution of 30 million – well below the current figure of around 100 million for the PlayStation 2, but above the around 20 million achieved by the current generation Xbox and GameCube. As a result of the revised estimates, Nintendo’s stock has increased by 5.2 percent on the Osaka Securities Exchange, likely also helped by the announcement that the Nintendo DS console has now completely sold out in Japan. An official apology on Nintendo’s Japanese website indicates that the next major restock will occur towards the end of January. The last weekly sales figures for the console in Japan showed hardware sales of 597,628 units.