Japanese game sales monitoring firm Media Create reports that Nintendo has sold over 15 million units of the company’s popular 3DS console in Japan since the handheld system’s launch less than three year ago.
As reported earlier, market research analyst NPD has also confirmed that the Nintendo 3DS handheld system outperformed all other game consoles globally in 2013. Nintendo sold more than 40 million 3DS units worldwide as of the end of 2013.
The positive 3DS sales figures come despite the company’s overall poor performance this fiscal year, which has also seen the company lower annual worldwide sales projections for global 3DS sales from 18 million to 13.5 million units. Nintendo expects a third straight annual loss of 35 billion JPY (circa US$335 million) for the 2013 fiscal year.
In terms of 3DS software, Nintendo’s third quarter report revealed that franchise sequel Animal Crossing: New Leaf sold 2.49 million units globally for the period, with a total of 6.35 million units sold since the title’s launch. The 3DS version of Luigi’s Mansion also sold 1.91 million units worldwide in the period, with the game’s cumulative total reaching 3.13 million units sold.
Best selling new releases for the period included Tomodachi Collection, which sold 1.63 million in Japan exclusively, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team with 1.37 million units sold and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D with sales totalling 1.19 million units.
