No Nintendo Titles In May NPD, But The 3DS Has Now Sold 60 Million Units Worldwide

Great milestone for 3DS. Dreadful millstone for Wii U.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE The Wii U is essentially dead to Nintendo.

To be perfectly honest, I don't think there is anything positive to take away from this months NPD report (for Nintendo).

3DS sold 77,000 which isn't terrible, but not really great either. Xbone is getting slaughtered for its 110k sales in May. Wii U also recorded a new low with 29,000 units sold.

It's going to be a drag waiting for the NX, that's for sure. It feels like the end of this year was the right time

I have no doubt that when Pokemon Sun and Moon shows up, the 3DS is bound to sell atleast 80 million by the end of this year!

@BensonUii Surprised? Where have I said I'm surprised? I've said the Wii U is a millstone and an embarrassment. I won't be surprised if Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE fails to chart in a couple of weeks.

People underestimate how impressive the 3ds sales are. For a dedicated handheld gaming device to sell that many in a time when most people can play games on their phone is quite remarkable.

@BensonUii No! It's NPD sales data for the month. We're entitled to give our opinion of how it performed during that time. Should NPD stop giving out Wii U sales information every month because they're flogging a dead horse? According to you, people should only be allowed say positive things about Nintendo and keep any negative thoughts to themselves.

@BensonUii Stop lying.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE
I wouldn't say "embarrassment". It's a product for sale. Lots of products struggle to sell. Embarrassment makes it sound like a sports team that's losing. This is consumer electronics. Some consoles hit it off, others don't. It is what it is. Failed product? Sure. Embarrassment? No.

@JaxonH Ya embarrassment wasn't the right word to use because there's been great games and the Wii U has some good features. Failure is more appropriate, though that's a strong word too.

Edit: On further reflection, I stand by my statement, certain aspects of Wii U have been embarrassing.

@Socar I realise Pokemon is a big deal and will shift some consoles but you really expect a 5 year old console to sell an extra 33% of its lifetime sales in the next 6 months.

Vita may have sold 5 times less than 3DS, but it's completely undeserved when you consider that the Vita has a better and bigger library and has better hardware.

Sony themselves is to blame for Vita's failure with lack of advertising and first party support. Thankfully, it does have good third party support.

So it looks like this is implying that 60 million 3ds owners spent the month of May with their 3ds being a paperweight? Or perhaps we are forced to just play old games because there's nothing new. I'd also love to see a 2ds XL come out, although I don't really know why I'd want that if there's no new games to play on it.

Congrats too 3DS. Poor Wii U hanging out too dry.

@Yasume this has got to be a joke

@Yasume I won't argue hardware specs, but Vita having a bigger and better library is very subjective.

Not too shabby total sales at all for the 3DS.

After the bumpy start, where the system was just overpriced and didn't have a particularly great library of games, the 3DS has earned these kinds of sales numbers.

The Wii U, however . . .

@Yasume Better library is entirely subjective, and nobody who buys Nintendo consoles gives a crap about better hardware.
The Vita has a lot of ports/remasters/simultaneous releases with other consoles, and has relatively few unique games to it.
Sony shot themselves in the foot, then went straight for the amputation.

@unovachamp90 Vita has over 1300 games available (not counting the available PSP and PS1 games). Not saying that they are all good, but you could build up a collection with over 200 quality games. At least. Don't try to argue if you haven't even glanced at Vita's library.

@CrazedCavalier 3DS has a ton of ports and remakes as well.

Sony did indeed mess up. They are the sole reason for Vita's failure. Ridiculously expensive memory cards, crap first party support and zero advertising is why it flopped.

@Yasume A large part of the Vita library are cheap phones games. Retail wise the 3DS crushed it. The Vita games are completely dead in USA and Europe. It's been years we haven't seen a Vita game in a NPD report. What is also impressive is the fact the WiiU sold 20 millions more games than the Vita, while being released one year later and without any third party support. That tells a lot about what the public think about the Vita library.

@Yasume The Vita was a nice system and I sold mine after it become clear Sony had no intention of supporting it properly and the cost of the memory cards was ridiculous. the quality of games just did not live up to what Sony was promising.

I really enjoy my N3DS, yet am surprised that there's not more support for it from third parties. With a user base that's 60 million strong, I would expect to see more. I wonder what Nintendo is doing wrong that drives so many third parties to hate their guts so much.

@bitleman Cheap phone games? Yeah, you clearly haven't seen its library. Also, don't see why you should bring Wii U in this conversation. Portable devices should be compared to each other, not a console with a handheld.

Anyway, the Vita is also getting much more third party support than 3DS these days. Let's compare both their upcoming western release schedules and include the good games:

PSVita

Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir
Grand Kingdom
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma
Shiren the Wanderer 5
God Eater Resurrection
God Eater 2: Rage Burst
Fate/Extella: An Unborn Star
Dragon Quest Builders
Akiba's Beat
World of Final Fantasy
Yomawari: Night Alone
Neptune VS. Sega Hard Girls
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Cosmic Star Heroine
Darkest Dungeon
Demon Gaze II
The Banner Saga
Salt & Sanctuary
Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky
Forgotten Memories: Altnernate Realities
Hyper Light Drifter
Heart Forth, Alicia
The Iconoclasts
Mighty No. 9
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II
Exile's End
Mystery Chronicle: One Way Heroics
Root Double: Before Crime
Root Letter
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero
Steins;Gate 0
Shakedown Hawaii
Summon Night 6: The Lost Borders
Touhou Genso Wanderer
Timespinner
Atelier Sophie
Mobile Suit Gundam VS Force
Attack on Titan: Wings of Freedom
Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness
MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death
Drifter
Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X
Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors

Might have missed a few.

3DS

Dragon Quest VII
Dragon Quest VIII
Monster Hunter Generations
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma
Mighty No. 9
Shakedown Hawaii
Yo-Kai Watch 2
Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final
7th Dragon Code
Corpse Party
Phoenix Wright 6

Eh?

It has always been first party support that saved the 3DS. When it comes to third party support, the Vita clearly has the better and bigger library. You can't really argue there.

I love my 3DS to death. I just wish more NES games would be released on the virtual console...Bionic Commando, Kung Fu, Paperboy, Destiny of an Emperor, Jackel, Blades of Steel....you get the idea.

While people will find some way of complaining, this is a huge milestone for a console that was "totally doomed, expect to see it discontinued next year (2012)" this time five years ago. And it isn't even Nintendo's worst selling handheld. If you break the GBC off from the Original Gameboy it (likely) only sold around 45-55 million or so units.
Also, @Yasume, I have both kits, and I think both library's are pretty solid. Nintendo has always had difficulty getting 3rd parties on board, Sony has never had that problem. Still the 3DS has (and had) some more support from bigger name third party in Japan. Capcom, Sega, Atlus (although I know Atlus has put out some stuff for the Vita, their 3DS output is much larger and more consistent), Bandai Namco Games (although looking close...they've had good support on both systems) and Level 5. Also going by Wikipedia...there are 887 3DS games (download only and retail no VC titles counted), and...1,314 (again, retail and download only, no PSP, PSone or PSNow titles). So the Vita wins there.
But I think both systems deserve recognition for what they both are, unique and excellent handhelds no matter what.

@Yasume I agree Vita gets more support, thanks in large part to Sony being smart and they use the similar operating systems so its easy to port PS4 games to Vita. Hopefully if Nintendo sticks to having both a handheld and console, this will apply next gen.

But strong release schedule aside, the number of games coming out for Vita this is very close to the total number of Vitas sold thus far.

@Yasume PSVita has a lot of good ganes and support from developers. The reason I don't own one though is simply because I hate the memory card BS, and most of those games you listed are also coming out on other Sony systems like the PS4, where I can enjoy them on the big screen. Really, there's just no reason for me to buy a Vita.

That's also why I want to Nintendo to keep their handhelds and consoles separate. Sony has shown that it's difficult to integrate them and have them both be successful. People usually just want one or the other at that point.

@Yasume You do realize that majority of those games can be bought on multiplats right? I mean seriously, the fact that the system + memory cards are twice the price as an average PC, why the hell will anyone want to get the Vita if those games will eventually come to PC? Its already happening and is one of the main reasons why I didn't bother to try to get the Vita.

3DS on the other hand has games that while have multiplats, some really are better off playing on the 3DS itself like Resident Evil Revelations, Phenoix Wright trilogy and Professor Layton as examples.

People need to think properly when to get games these days. 95% of the games on Vita are ported on PC or are most likely to be ported. The only ones that don't get ported are the exclusives that Sony has which are so few and far between.

@Yasume when you look at the list for vita you'll notice that you need to have a very specific taste to enjoy these titles.

@bitleman Basically: the Wii U lacks 3rd party support, but the Vita utterly lacks 1st party support.

Pretty good 3DS sales. It will still unfortunately be Nintendo lowest selling handheld unless it's successor is released later than expected, but in the post-mobile world, selling 60 million in a little over 5 years isn't too shabby.

The 2DS sales boost was pretty big. Hopefully, Nintendo starts dropping the prices of the other 3DS models as well.

Interested in seeing where Kirby will chart in the June NPD.

But what iteration sold better? 3ds, new 3ds or 2ds?

@GameOtaku

3DS = 3DS XL > New 3DS XL > 2DS > New 3DS.

The 3DS is selling GREAT!!! Pokemon sun and moon will probably sell more 3DS systems this holidays!!!

@HandheldGuru97
To be fair to the GBC though, it was only on the market for about 2.5 years before the successor was released.

I will say, I play my 3ds more than any other system. It's because of the convenience of having a portable system. Having two young kids makes it difficult to find time to sit down to play console games, but I'm able to fit in small amounts of time here and there on my 3ds. Plus, my library of games gives me a wide range of options. If I have a lot of time, I'll play games like Fire Emblem. If I only have time a little time to play games, well then, Pocket Card Jockey it is. I really love that game 😂

I gotta say in an age of mobile gaming the 3ds sales numbers are impressive! It's not really fair to compare the 3ds to the original DS because the DS was in a time of no mobile competition. Either way it's impressive.

I see Nintendo's finally taken a page or two out of MicroSony's playbook on how to sell a game without any games!

It would had sold a lot more than that had Nintendo actually released the other New 3DS smaller version here as well instead of limiting us to just the New 3DS XL.

@Yasume And how many of these games are exclusives and will get a green Metascore? The Vita is getting the japanese shovelwares market because the 3DS is getting all the japanese games that matter. That's why the Vita is a failure.

@bitleman you are acting like all the 3DS titles are all 80+ metascore grandpieces. A look at the eshop brings down any ignorant opinion like yours. The Vita library while full of ports is bigger and better (third partywise) than the 3DS, fullstop. I own both and I love each in their own way but speaking strictly portable this is true.

@Yasume I own and love my Vita.... but while it might have more titles than the Wii U, I am far more passionate about the available titles for the Wii U than the Vita.

Whilst I totally agree that the Vita has more games, most of them are very niche and don't appeal to a wide audience.

Still no black New 3ds... come ON Nintendo!

@Socar I'm pretty sure he realizes those games can be bought on other platforms, that's why he just said the Vita has a bigger library of 3rd party games in comparison with the 3DS, wich is true.

I would bother getting a Vita instead of getting it on PC because even when I use a controler, I hate playing on PC. Also, using a PC for gaming it's quite expensive, specially in countries like mine, not to mention the advantage of portability. There are nice exclusives on the Vita too.

It's also true that the Vita is the better piece of hardware against the 3DS by far. But as he said, questionable decisions from Sony when it comes to games made it fail, and a good library is what counts the most.

Let's not turn this into a console, portable war or whatever.

@Kmno I never assumed that and I own a Vita. But there's nothing on it that come close to games like Pokemon, Fire Emblem, Bravely Default or Shin Megami Tensei 4. The Vita library is mostly japanese shovelwares that are giving a terrible reputation to the japanese industry. Alos Sony is paying exclusivity for franchises like God Eater to let them die while they could doing great on the 3DS where the Monster Hunter games sell millions.