Nintendo DS tops Australian handheld market
15 - Jun 2006 - Nintendo DS is Australia's best selling handheld. Sales numbers revealed inside.
Upon the announcement of the Nintendo DS Lite, Nintendo Australia labelled the Nintendo DS as "the best selling handheld console" in Australia. This couldn't be closer to the truth.
Speaking to Aussie-Nintendo.com, Vispi Bhopti, PR and Online Co-ordinator at Nintendo Australia, reinforced this claim, stating that the Nintendo DS consistently outsells the Sony PSP.
GfK Australia, an independent market research company, is responsible for measuring sales, pricing and distribution of interactive entertainment products in Australia and has provided us with the facts as to who really is leading in terms of sales.
Nintendo Australia's claims have been verified by the firm, with Games Analyst Daniel Morse confirming that the Nintendo DS is indeed the best selling handheld in Australia since February 2005, and the second best selling console (behind the PlayStation 2) during the same period.
Aussie-Nintendo.com has compiled the following graphs with data supplied by GfK Australia.
Since its launch, the Nintendo DS has sold over 227,369 units across the country, Sony's PSP has sold over 161,623 units and Nintendo's Game Boy Advance has sold more than 145,345 units. Note that this is only since February 2005.
Combined, since February 2005, Nintendo has sold more than 372,714 handheld units versus 161,623 by Sony.
Further, since 2000, the Game Boy Advance has been the best selling handheld console, and the second best selling console (behind PS2), with Xbox taking 3rd place.
Bhopti believes that Sony's PSP had a great launch purely because "it is the type of high-end tech product that mainly attracts early adopters." But in the 40 weeks following the PSP's Australian launch, Nintendo actually sold more DS units in 31 of those weeks.
He also says that Nintendo's DS success is due to the company having had "consistent successes driven by the likes of Nintendogs, Mario Kart DS, and soon to be Brain Training."
Aussie-Nintendo.com will continue to keep you updated with the happenings of the Australian games market, especially leading into and following the Nintendo Wii's launch later this year. We'd also like to hear your thoughts on this below.