While the 3DS had gotten off to a slow start, sales have picked up since Nintendo started bringing its A-game. In an interview with Time, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime revealed that the 3DS portable has done better than the DS since launch. According to Reggie, the 3DS has sold 2.37 million units in just 8 months, a number reached by the original DS after a full year.
“In sales through this past Saturday—8 months—it has outsold the full 12 months of the original DS. During that 12 months time, the original DS sold 2.37 million and we just surpassed that this past Saturday, so we’ve got real good momentum going into the holidays,” said Fils-Aime.
The price drop and Super Mario 3D Land have made the system far more attractive to consumers, and Nintendo hopes its improvements to the eShop will provide more value.
“3DS has been having positive momentum since the digital content came onboard with the eShop, the launch of Ocarina of Time and obviously the price reduction. We’ve been able to fuel that fire with Pokemon: Rumble Blast and Star Fox. What Mario did was bring a whole new range of consumers into the 3DS franchise,” he continued.
Mario Kart 7 is out this week, continuing Nintendo’s 3DS holiday blitz. So far the game has a Metacritic score of 85.
