DS breaks more records (U.K), PSP delayed again in Europe

[Teasy]

Nintendo DS smashes first weekend sales records

The Nintendo DS got off to a flying start last weekend in the UK, becoming the fastest-selling console ever with sales topping some 87,000 units in the first two days at retail, according to Chart-Track data released this morning.

Compared to previous console sales over the years, the DS was well ahead of the original GBA's launch statistics, which managed 67,000 back in June 2001, while the remodelled GBA SP debuted with 47,000 in March 2003.

Meanwhile, PSP Postponed in Europe:

Georges Fornay, chief of Sony Computer Entertainment France, has confirmed the unit's delay. The release is being postponed "for several months" so that Sony can adequately provide enough PSPs to satisfy the consumer demand.

PSP is now expected to release in Europe in late June to early July.

 

[hey69]

yeah, when that news arrived about the postponing of the EU PSP, i received 3 orders for import psps

but wow for Nds, wasn't expecting it THAT big. good for Nintendo!

i'm curious about howmany sold in what region? germany/france/UK/ibarian peeps/scandinavia /benelux

 

[Evil_Cloud]

yeah, when that news arrived about the postponing of the EU PSP, i received 3 orders for import psps

but wow for Nds, wasn't expecting it THAT big. good for Nintendo!

i'm curious about howmany sold in what region? germany/france/UK/ibarian peeps/scandinavia /benelux

Only UK sales are tracked by ELSPA, but I am certain Nintendo will give sales numbers very soon. After all, I think Nintendo DS is breaking all records here...

 

[Phil]

I am puzzled why it should be the fastest selling "console" - surely PS2 sold more than those 87'000 units within its first day with all those shortages. Even in Switzerland which is dewarfed in market size by all european countries managed to sell its shipment of 16'000 on its first day if I remember correctly.



Anyway, excellent news for DS anyway you look at it. I'm left wondering though how well it will sell after its initial shipment and PSP hits the market there too..... if Japan is any indication of what may happen.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

From the same article...

The cheap and cheerful DS even smashed sales of fully-fledged consoles, beating the Cube's record debut week of 69,000 back in May 2002, with the likes of Xbox (52,000) and PS2 (46,000) selling decent numbers despite...

87,000 DSs versus 46,000 PS2s

 

[marconelly!]

PS2 had massive shortage there apparently, like everywhere else. It sold something like 45K in first week in Europe as there wasn't more to sell :?

It meant nothing at the end. GC sold a lot more in the first week as you can see, but PS2 has sold so much more overall it's not even funny (it still keeps outselling GC to something like 4:1 in UK)

 

[London Geezer]

PS2 had massive shortage there apparently, like everywhere else. It sold something like 45K in first week in Europe as there wasn't more to sell :?

It meant nothing at the end. GC sold a lot more in the first week as you can see, but PS2 has sold so much more overall it's not even funny (it still keeps outselling GC to something like 4:1 in UK)

GC is still being sold in the UK?!

 

[Phil]

okay, I stand corrected in that case.

 

[jarrod]

I'm left wondering though how well it will sell after its initial shipment and PSP hits the market there too..... if Japan is any indication of what may happen.

Fortunatnetly for Nintendo it's looking like DS will have a few months to itself to build up a nice userbase. Japan's a strange situation too, as PSP outselling DS can mainly be attributed to SCEI's soft launch keeping demand higher for longer, protracting the launch demand window.... despite outselling DS for nearly a solid 2 months, PSP is still only at half the total userbase of DS (about 950k to 1.9M) and both machines are in decline now.

 

[hey69]

there is still a 1 psp a customer policy in a lot of shops I was told by a friend in japan. is sony producing less for japan to boost sales for USA ? i dunno.

 

[Evil_Cloud]

It will be very interesting to see how this PSP shortage affects the total userbases of both handhelds. It's all about getting to 10 million units sold first. Certainly they will both attain that number, but the really big bucks only come after 10 million.

 

[Teasy]

According to Cubed3.com DS sold 600,000 systems in its first 3 days in the whole of Europe. With 650,000 being available to buy. If true this means its actually sold faster in Europe then either the U.S or Japan. Not sure were they got there numbers from though. But from what I can see DS is sold out everywhere I look. But I don't see stores outside of the U.K so..

 

[Evil_Cloud]

According to Cubed3.com DS sold 600,000 systems in its first 3 days in the whole of Europe. With 650,000 being available to buy. If true this means its actually sold faster in Europe then either the U.S or Japan. Not sure were they got there numbers from though. But from what I can see DS is sold out everywhere I look. But I don't see stores outside of the U.K so..

Not much Nintendo DS'es left in the Benelux either... some software is quite hard to find also.

 

[Urian]

In Spain the units that are in stock in every shop are less than 10 and Mario is out of availability.

 

[cthellis42]

Frankly, I'm wondering how a country with 60 million people continually move so few consoles on the first day. They just not getting the stocks, or do they not have the same kind of first-day hysteria that hits the US and Japan surrounding new products?

 

[Evil_Cloud]

Frankly, I'm wondering how a country with 60 million people continually move so few consoles on the first day. They just not getting the stocks, or do they not have the same kind of first-day hysteria that hits the US and Japan surrounding new products?

PS2 sold one million in the UK recently, am I right? Makes much sense then.

 

[jvd]

ITs a really fun system that is why its selling well. IT will continue to sell well because the games are extremely addicting . My friends and I played warioware (drinking version hehe) on saturday for 4 hours strait on 2 ds's

 

[Li Mu Bai]

It meant nothing at the end. GC sold a lot more in the first week as you can see, but PS2 has sold so much more overall it's not even funny (it still keeps outselling GC to something like 4:1 in UK)

Marco, everyone on this board knew this already. So what was your point in even bringing this sales ratio up? To somehow detract from the DS's initial UK sales success?

 

[Teasy]

Frankly, I'm wondering how a country with 60 million people continually move so few consoles on the first day. They just not getting the stocks, or do they not have the same kind of first-day hysteria that hits the US and Japan surrounding new products?

87,000 sold on the first day in the U.K is actually better sales then the U.S considering the amount of people who live in each country. The population of the U.S is 5 times as high as the U.K after all. The U.K got 150,000 DS's on release (650,000 for the whole of Europe), which were sold out within 3 days. Again that's a lot faster sales then the U.S considering the population.

As for past first day consoles sales in the U.K (PS2, N64, PS1 ect). Most, if not all, of those were over priced over here compared to the U.S and Japan (unlike DS and GC which have sold best on first day). So there's your answer I suppose. Higher prices mean lower sales, especially at first when prices are always highest.

 

[cthellis42]

87,000 sold on the first day in the U.K is better sales then the U.S considering the amount of people who live in each country. The population of the U.S is 5 times as high as the U.K after all.

Japan has double the UK's population and sold 3x as many the first day. (About the same percentage of the available stock, though.) I'm having a hard time finding first day sales for the US, though... I know they moved ~500k the first week (the same amount as Japan's initial stock), but I don't know what day one was like. They would have had to sell 80% of that the first day (unlikely) to keep up with the population ratio, though, so I guess you're right.

I suppose I'm just used to certain software sales numbers blowing everything out of proportion.