35 million DS shifted worldwide
And another four million expected before the end of March
Nintendo could probably say it's sold 100 million BILLION DSs and most fanboys would believe them. But as this is a day containing the letter 'y', in a month containing letters such as 'j' and 'n', Nintendo has more modestly decided it's time to announce it has sold over 35 million DSs, 17 million of which were DS Lites.
Breaking down the figures geographically, 10 million DSs have been sold in the US (with DS Lite accounting for 48 per cent), 14 million in Japan (55 per cent being DS Lites), and 11 million (42 per cent DS Lites) in the rest of world – that is, other European and Asian countries, as well as the Middle East and Africa.
And the top selling game? New Super Mario Bros, which has shifted 8.6 million copies.
These figures initially confused us, as it was only two weeks ago that Nintendo upped its sales predictions for the 12 month period ending 31st March 2007 to 23 million DSs. Combined with the 11 million DSs sold during the previous 12 months, this provided a total of 34 million DSs – a barrier already reached.
However, revisiting past financial statements, we've discovered a tricky pile of five million DSs sold in Japan and the US during the couple of months before DS got its European launch in March 2005 that we forgot about. That will teach us to be so Euro-centric.
Happily then, everything's now square in the clunky calculator that passes for our brain. And Nintendo's figures are looking rosy too – it expects to end its financial year in March having sold 39 million DSs.
