Well, that certainly didn’t take long. In just under two years, the Nintendo 3DS has passed the sales numbers Sony‘s PlayStation 3 took six years to achieve in Japan. IGN reports that the 3DS has sold 8,799,378 units since coming out in February 2011. To compare, Sony has sold 8,716,260 PS3 units since November 2006.
For comparison’s sake, the PlayStation Vita has sold 1,074,621 since launching, while the PSP sold 19,488,236… that’s more than the Wii, with lifetime sales of 12,608,700 in Japan. The Xbox 360 has so far sold just over 1.6 million units. The original Nintendo DS sold over 32 million.
Both the 3DS and the PS3 have had similar struggles when it comes to sales, as far as price tags are concerned. The PS3 originally launched with two versions, one costing $500, one costing $600, which many argue slowed down its sales considerably when compared to the much cheaper Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360… Sony‘s sales eventually picked up after a price cut.
Similarly, the 3DS launched with a price tag of $250, which many believed was too expensive, forcing Nintendo to slash the price just months later, as well as issue a round of “Ambassador Program” games to apologize to those who paid more at launch. Sales have since skyrocketed, obviously, compared to how things were going.
