Nintendo released a statement highlighting its performance in handheld sales during August 2016 in the United States. From the numbers, Nintendo had a great month.
Sales of the Nintendo 2DS rose over 500% compared to August 2015. Nintendo says the huge increase is partly due to the price drop of the handheld system to $80, something that went into effect in May. They also cited “excitement for the Pokemon brand” as a reason, a clear reference to the success of Pokemon GO. The Nintendo 3DS also saw a rise in sales, growing 83 percent versus the same period last year.
Software sales grew as well. The number of first-party 3DS games jumped 57 percent versus August 2015. This number includes both physical and digital sales. Nintendo credits the sales of Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, which appeared at number 9 and 11 respectively on the August 2016 overall sales chart.
They also noted that Wii U software sales rose by 30 percent, although it did not share hardware information. It may be due to the Wii U’s successor, codenamed NX, scheduled to launch in March 2017, with a reveal as early as October of this year. It could also be because the hardware sales numbers were not favorable.
The Nintendo 3DS was the best-selling video game system for July 2016. The crown moves to the Xbox One for August 2016. Overall, hardware sales were down six percent versus August 2015. Xbox One and 3DS sales rose, but PlayStation 4 and Wii U sales dropped. The former’s drop may be attributed to the impending release of the PlayStation 4 Pro, which was announced earlier this month.
