More show boating from our Nintendo Europe friends, the DS is now the fastest selling console to reach 10 million sales across Europe (and around 34 million worldwide now). Launched in March 2005 across Europe the DS has only been on sale for just one year and ten months, 1.7million of these DS’ were sold in December 2006.
NOE’s Marketing Director says “”This landmark figure of 10 million Nintendo DS gamers cements the consoles position as undisputed leader of the handheld market, bringing gaming to a whole new audience – something that was unimaginable a few years ago!”" Nintendo says that the DS is widening the gaming market with both Touch Generation games on the DS but also traditional games.
Press Release inside
The Nintendo DS has gone from strength to strength since its launch in March 2005, with sales dwarfing those of all other consoles as Nintendo attracts all-new audiences to the gaming industry. Now after just one year and ten months on sale, Nintendo DS has become the fastest games console in European history to sell 10 million (sell-thru to customers) and with 1.7 million units selling in December 2006 alone it is also by far the best selling handheld games console across Europe.
The success of Nintendo DS has been driven by Nintendos range of innovative Touch! Generations games, targeted at non-traditional audiences. Nintendogs which launched in October 2005, is now being enjoyed by over five million Europeans, whilst titles like Dr Kawashimas Brain Training: How old is your brain? have been enjoying similar success with over two million copies sold to consumers to date in Europe. Whats more six months after its launch sales are still going strong and its maintaining a high position in sales charts across Europe!
Traditional gaming titles are also achieving significant growth with total sales of New Super Mario Bros., Super Mario 64 DS, Mario Kart DS, Pokmon Mystery Dungeon and Animal Crossing: Wild World all surpassing the million sold mark in Europe. The success doesnt end there with dozens of third party games such as The Sims 2 Pets (Electronic Arts), Sonic Rush (SEGA) and Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (Buena Vista Games) selling at a significant rate in Europe.
Laurent Fischer, European Marketing Director said:
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 consoles position as undisputed leader of the handheld market, bringing gaming to a whole new audience – something that was unimaginable a few years ago! 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.
Nintendo is continuing to build on this momentum with a dynamic range of exciting, new games including Mario Slam Basketball, Star Fox Command, Actionloop, and the highly anticipated legendary Final Fantasy III from Square-Enix, all scheduled for launch in 2007.
Source: Nintendo Europe
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