Nintendo’s US president Reggie Fils-Aime in an interview late on Thursday gave out promised 3DS sales numbers. About 400,000 of the game system shipped in the week after it reached the US on March 27. He was “very satisfied with this start” in speaking to USA Today and touted upcoming plans for Netflix support and the online store.
The figure didn’t make it the best-selling Nintendo system. The company sold 460,000 DSi systems during the same week. It outperformed the Wii, however, which sold 290,000 systems during all of March and was outsold by the Xbox 360 by a wide 143,000-unit margin. Fils-Aime cautioned not to directly compare the 3DS’ results too closely to the DSi that week or during the original DS launch, noting that the month-old Pokemon Black and Pokemon White were still driving sales of the older system and that the original DS launched during Thanksgiving week, usually the strongest-selling week of the year.
Unlike the Japanese sellouts, stock still remained after the launch. The extra stock was deliberate, Fils-Aime claimed. Supply had been staged at distribution spots in between so that a store running low could get new stock instead of having to wait for its next regular shipment. It was a testament to how well the supply chain worked, he said.
