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DS is now the biggest-selling UK console in all history. The Nintendo machine beaten PS2’s 10.02 million units to date, passing 10.05 million in week 47, 2009.
This is according to GfK-ChartTrack data. DS launched in the UK in March 2005, compared to PS2’s November 2000 release.
More on MCV.
Update: PR after the break.
NINTENDO DS PASSES 10 MILLION SALES TO BECOME BEST EVER SELLING CONSOLE IN UK HISTORY
- Unique and intuitive video game console helps
to broaden appeal to new non-traditional audiences-
10th December 2009: Figures released today courtesy of GfK Chart-Track, the UK’s leading music, video and software performance and sales tracking company, reveal Nintendo’s market leading handheld console, Nintendo DS, has now sold over ten million units in the UK, making it the best selling console of any kind in the territory’s history.*
Since its launch in the UK on 11th March 2005, almost one in six people now own a Nintendo DS system. It has now outsold the previous record holder, which has been on sale in the UK for over nine years in less than five!**
Nintendo’s Touch Generations range of software, which has been expanding the definition of video game, has resonated strongly with people of all ages, extending its appeal to a non-traditional gaming audience, which now sees people aged between five and 95 picking up and playing Nintendo DS consoles. The achievements of titles such as Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training: How Old Is You Brain? and More Brain Training alongside recent launches including 100 Classic Book Collection and 42 All-Time Classics, has seen the Nintendo DS system significantly expand the audience traditionally associated with videogames. As well as sons and daughters, mums, dads and even grandmas and granddads across the UK can be seen getting to grips with their Nintendo DS systems.
-ends-
Viewing 54 responses
SilentLoner said:
console? ha they wish!
Gekidami said:
Personally i tend to consider portable consoles and home consoles 2 very different things.
Psychotext said:
That aside, the DS has been quite the sales success, and it doesn’t really seem to be showing any sign of slowing down.
Patrick Garratt said:
Added the PR.
Hero of Canton said:
Well deserved – it’s a terrific, accessible console with a fantastic software library.
Blerk said:
I’ve never much liked it, to be honest. My son loves his though – to the point where he’s actually worn two of them out. Flimsy pieces of crap.
Bojangles said:
This has the same conveniently fuzzy logic applied to it as when Wii Sports was classified as a record breaking ’selling’ game – in spite of the fact it was given away for free. And #2 makes another good point also.
Given the whole R4 thing, I wonder how the two ‘consoles’ compare when it comes to attach rates.
Psychotext said:
That’s a really impressive twist there Bojangles. I never knew that they’d given the DS away for free with another console.
As for the DS tie ratio, it was ~4.7 last year, not sure what it is at the moment.
Bojangles said:
Fuzzy logic is about conveniently overlooking specifics – such as calling a “freebie” a “sale” or a “handheld” a “console” when it suits.
Psychotext said:
I’d say that’s more semantics than fuzzy logic. They’re both consoles, one a home console, one a handheld console.
No_PUDding said:
I’d say it’s neither fuzzy logic nor a matter of semantics.
Somewhere in between:
DS is still a gaming system, and the previous gaming system with the largest install base has been overtaken in the UK. That is notable. The caveat being that one is more of a home entertainment system, and the other a more ‘disposable’ (not to throw away, to PUT away) and ergonomic purchase.
As for Wii Sports, the millions who are playign that game are still playing it, so it doesn’t matter whether it was packed in or not, X number of copies are in the publics hands. The caveat being that getting 100% attach rate like that, with a console, is impossible UNLESS it is a pack in.
No_PUDding said:
IS that fair? Will you two kiss and make up?
Hero of Canton said:
If it’s not a console, what is it? It’s not a fucking calculator, is it?
Bojangles said:
#11 With Wii Sports: if you choose not to sell something and, instead, give it away you cannot legitimately claim it has achieved a record number of sales.
No_PUDding said:
Well they can say completely truthfully it has a massive install base, and since it was and IS a pruchaseable product (it’s just associate with the console) how can you deny it that?
Sure it’s a technicality, but it’s accurate and correct.
Bojangles said:
With enough technicalities, fuzzy logic and semantics you can claim anything to be accurate and correct.
Psychotext said:
So I’m looking through what the PR says exactly to try and uncover the spin…
“NINTENDO DS PASSES 10 MILLION SALES TO BECOME BEST EVER SELLING CONSOLE IN UK HISTORY”
Is it a console? Yes. Has it sold more than any other console? Yes. Adding handheld here would only really be relevant if it was only the fastest selling handheld console, rather than fastest selling of all types of console.
“Nintendo DS, has now sold over ten million units in the UK, making it the best selling console of any kind in the territory’s history.”
Has is sold 10m in the UK? As far as Chart Track is concerned, yes. Is it a console? Again, yes.
“Since its launch in the UK on 11th March 2005, almost one in six people now own a Nintendo DS system. ”
Here’s the only place where it really falls down. Nintendo have no way of knowing if around one in six people own a DS, or if it’s more like one in eight (for example) do because of people having multiple models.
No_PUDding said:
I totally agree.
But there is no semantics in pointing out that the two products are vastly different, categorically different infact.
The point is it’s the largest selling console in the UK, which I dont think anyone is denying.
Psychotext said:
Categorically different despite being in the same overall category you mean?
No_PUDding said:
Okay so it IS semantics….
No_PUDding said:
Po-tay-toe Po-tar-toe
Psychotext said:
You say that, I say Jersey Royals.
Bojangles said:
So, when someone claims a game that isn’t sold is deserving of a sales accolade the fact that sales of the product in question didn’t even happen is just a mere technicality and should be overlooked?
‘Technicalities’ are awfully convenient depending on how you wish to spin a story.
Psychotext said:
You realise that has absolutely no relevance here right? Whilst what you say is absolutely true in the case of Wii Sports, it bears no resemblance whatsoever to the fact that they chose to categorise a games console as a games console in a press release.
It’s basically a straw man.
Bojangles said:
I apologise for bringing up an instance of Nintendo claiming record breaking sales of a product in a news story about Nintendo claiming record breaking sales of a product.
Psychotext said:
Apology accepted. It’s an easy mistake to make, but if you concentrate on critiquing what they’re doing here rather than what they did in the past it’s fairly easy to avoid. You can see an example in post 17.
Bojangles said:
When did I critique Nintendo’s PR, specifically?
Psychotext said:
When you stated that it contained “conveniently fuzzy logic”.
Bojangles said:
And where was that specifically directed as a response to Nintendo’s PR?
I’ve made no such critique in the manner you hope to suggest. In exactly the same way I made no such claim that Nintendo gave away DSs in the twist you created and tried to credit me for in #8
I refer you to #16.
theevilaires said:
ahahahahaha DS a console? ok Garratt whatever makes you happy over there in the U.S.K.
lol once again the pot(someone in here) is calling the kettle black as always. Lets not say any names because he never defends a piece of plastic…..RROD charts anyone
Tonka said:
Do people still believe attach rates are of any significance?
Simple experiment you can try at home.
A has install base of 10 000
B has install base of 2
A has attach rate of 1.2
B has attach rate of 100
Which one sells the most software?
(this is overly simplified due to necessity)
Blerk said:
I’m somewhat bemused that people don’t consider the DS a console. What is it, then?
theevilaires said:
a handheld gaming portable device thingy
I guess we can say the IPOD touch will eventually out sell the PS2 too right…that plays games and everyone will eventually get one right?
DaMan said:
I have to completely agree with tea here actually, comparing DS sales to PS2 is like comparing a J2ME phone sales to Desktop PC.
Blerk said:
What is this collective insanity?
The DS is a games console. It’s sole purpose it to play games. Just because you can’t plug it into a telly doesn’t mean it isn’t a console.
You wouldn’t call the iPod Touch a games console because that’s not its intended main function. But the DS is… a console.
DaMan said:
DS is a handheld, console games =/= handheld games.
I think that’s one of the reasons some people can’t get into handheld/mobile gaming btw, because they see portable games in the same way as their home console ones.
theevilaires said:
Then where did the term handheld and consoles come from?
Ever hear a tv commercial advertising a game…blah blah coming to handhelds and home consoles next spring.
Second the PS2 wasn’t always as cheap as it is now.
Sorry I have to stop here because Larry,Curly,and Moe will accuse me of defending a piece plastic.
(first person to guess who Larry,Curly,and Moe of VG247 is gets a $20 PSN card)
Psychotext said:
DS is a handheld console, just like the PSP is a handheld console, and the gameboy is a handheld console. All consoles.
For comparison, the PS2 is a home console, the PS3 is a home console (where they weren’t calling it a PC for tax purposes), the 360 is a home console and the Wii is a home console. All consoles.
People might not like the comparison because they feel it somehow diminishes the achievements of the PS2 (it doesn’t, but that’s a different story), but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re all consoles. It’s also worth bearing in mind that handhelds don’t outsell home consoles by default.
In terms of lifetime shipments worldwide…
PS2 > Gameboy > DS > PS1 > GBA > NES
Hero of Canton said:
Yeah, it’s a handheld. A handheld CONSOLE. It’s not ’spin’ to claim that the DS is a console, because it is. Its portability doesn’t alter that fact.
DaMan said:
well, yes. but that’s not what I meant. then I can call my Symbian smartphone a portable computer. I mean, you could call 360 or PS3 a gaming computer.
not a ‘console’ in the sense that the software is different.
Blerk said:
I don’t understand why the software should make a difference. The DS still plays ‘games’.
DaMan said:
the games are different. if I have an office application on my smartphone, I still call it a ‘phone’. but I call my desktop PC a ‘computer’.
but in the sense that you guys mean, yeah DS would be a ‘handheld console’ and 360/PS3 a ‘home console’.
Psychotext said:
Well, if we want to get ultra specific… the PS2 is indeed the best selling “computer entertainment system” in the UK, because the only competition it has is the PS3.
Hunam said:
Jesus wept.
DaMan said:
lulz.
theevilaires said:
handheld gaming device to a home console which was made to be a home edition of an arcade cabinet.
handhelds
Consoles
Arcade Cabinets
all of which you can own in your house but still different things.
NoxNoctisUmbra said:
It does not count.. most kids buy the DS, most adults and TRUE gamers buy the PS2.. that is what counts.
theevilaires said:
If handhelds are consoles then Sony should have just called the psp the ps2.5p. Same graphics as a PS2 right?
The big difference is that you sit down on your couch and play a huge 10 – 30 game with a joypad. Who sits at home on the couch and plays with their PSP or DS when they could play something better on a huge tv?
MushroomStamp said:
Handhelds are not consoles! period… only a rah-tard couldn’t tell the difference.
Psychotext said:
pot-a-tard