Nintendo 3DS on a course to beat first-year DS sales

By Adam Rosenberg Published November 13, 2011

Nintnedo3DS — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Nintendo didn’t exactly hit the ground running with the release of its 3DS back in March. The dual-screen gaming handheld and its boasts of “glasses-free 3D” didn’t amount to much thanks to a relatively light library of launch software for gamers to choose from. Things didn’t get better from there, either, with Nintendo chopping the price on the 3DS down from $250 to $170 less than six months after its release.

None of that will matter when all is said and done, however. A new Nintendo press release touts the success of the device since its launch, with a total of 1.65 million units sold since March in the United States alone. This puts the 3DS on track to topple the first-year sales for the DS, which sold 2.37 million, with 50 percent of those sales coming during the “holiday time frame.” Nintendo is expecting to do big numbers this holiday, thanks largely to an expanding lineup of games that includes Super Mario 3D Land and the soon-to-be-released Mario Kart 7.

Former Gaming/Movies Editor

Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

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