After moving 200,000 units in less than nine months, the 3DS has become the fastest-selling system Down Under.
There seem to be very two different narratives going on regarding the 3DS. One from Nintendo portrays it as a system that got off to a rough start, but picked up considerable momentum after a price drop and some decent titles. Many fans, however, view the system as a gimmicky, inconvenient device that is doomed to fail (no link is necessary here; simply observe the comments section for this post). Regardless of what you think of the 3DS, one thing is clear: The system is picking up considerable steam in Australia. Thirty-seven weeks after its Australian launch, the 3DS has sold over 200,000 units, making it the nation’s fastest-selling system ever.
Data comes by way of the NPD Group, which has measured 3DS sales since its Australian launch on March 31, 2011. Analysts will likely come up with a number of reasons why this system has piqued Australia’s interest more than any handheld or console that’s come before it, but so far, the numbers speak for themselves. The impressive sales figure likely has something to do with the system’s price drop in August, which reduced the cost of a 3DS from AUS$350 to AUS$250, combined with the release of popular titles such as Ocarina of Time and Super Mario Land 3D.
For now, 3DS sales seem to have stabilized at worst and skyrocketed at best. Selling a lot of consoles in a short period of time is a promising sign, but the real test of the 3DS will be how well it performs over the course of a few years. Nintendo can probably expect to sit pretty through the holiday season, but nothing is certain after that. The breakout success of the original DS came as a big surprise to the gaming world; can Nintendo replicate its success with the addition of a single dimension?
Source: Gamasutra
