The Nintendo 3DS launched in Japan last Saturday, which means that Japanese sales tracker, Media-Create, only recorded two days worth of sales. Since most games in Japan release on Thursdays, four days is usually considered a “proper week” of sales.
In its first two days on the market, the Nintendo 3DS sold 374,764 units, Media-Create report. For every Nintendo 3DS system that was sold, consumers bought 0.95 games for the system on average. This means that not everyone that bought a 3DS purchased a game along with it.
When the original Nintendo DS launched, it had a better software attach rate, possibly as a result of more high-profile Nintendo brands being available at launch. While the highest-selling Nintendo 3DS launch game was Level 5’s Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle at 119,591 units, the original DS launched with Super Mario 64 DS, which sold 151,000 units and WarioWare: Touched! was close behind at 149,000 units.
For every Nintendo DS system that was sold at launch, consumers bought 1.04 games on average, Media-Create say. In addition to the fact that Media-Create only recorded two days of 3DS sales, another reason for the system’s lower software attach rate could be the pack-in software in the form of its augmented reality games.
