New 3DS’ release boosts hardware sales by over 50%

Nintendo’s newest handheld system revision is a predictable winner as the two newt games for the console top the charts.

The overall hardware market is up a beastly 57% week over week, and the reason is the latest revision of the 3DS. Nintendo’s new handheld has been a huge hit at retail and has apparently moved a ton and a half of consoles. I say ‘apparently’, because there are no actual figures to share with you as of yet. Even so though, it’s a definite fact that the system is a hit if you taconite account that hardware sales percentage.

As for the first two games to hit the market alongside it, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D has become the best-selling console game of its launch week and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate has fast become the quickest selling game in that particular series. It should be interesting to see where the final opening week sales numbers for the MH4U end up, since Capcom had huge hopes for that game with its ability to break through to Western audiences in ways that no MH title has in the past.

It’s worth a mention here too, that both games that just landed are not exclusive to the New Nintendo 3DS, meaning that gamers who’ve not upgraded their consoles will have no trouble playing either one. That won’t be the case with the upcoming Xenoblade Chronicles 3D however. When the portable translation of that game arrives in April, you’ll need some New 3DS hardware to run it, as it’s the first game to be exclusively available to owners of the new system.

Games or no though, this is a tremendous start for the New 3DS. Flagging sales of the last generation of the hardware had some saying that the end was near for not only the 3DS, but also the handheld market in general. As we see now from these newest numbers though, that wasn’t the case at all. Gamers were just waiting for the New console to arrive before taking the handheld plunge, and that’s a very good sign for not only Nintendo, but for this oft-maligned market in general.

Source: MCV