DS surpasses PlayStation 2 in Japanese lifetime sales
by Griffin McElroy 
{ Dec 30th 2007 at 5:55PM }
It's probably news to nobody at this point that during this past year, Nintendo fever swept through Japan like the Great Chicago Fire. Just by looking at a handful of recent hardware sales charts, the Big N's dominance over the land of the rising sun is explicitly clear -- the Wii always sold like hotcakes, and the DS Lite consistently took the top spot on the list. Over the holiday sales season, however, the DS earned its most notable bragging right to date, breaking the PS2 Japanese lifetime sales record by the skin of its teeth.According to recent Media Create sales numbers (as crunched and compiled by NeoGAF), the DS has sold 20,954,157 units to date in Japan, compared to the PS2's 20,901,468. Though Nintendo's touchable handheld hasn't yet approached the worldwide console sales record (an honor which the PS2 still holds by a considerable margin), being the highest selling console in one of the most-gaming centric nations in the world is still a pretty sizable victory. Grats, little guy.
[Via DS Fanboy]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Yen Lai @ Dec 30th 2007 5:53PM
Wow.
I wish you guys would've used the "It Prints Money" graphic though. I always get a kick out of that one...
Jhongerkong @ Dec 30th 2007 6:31PM
itprintsmoney.gif FT-fucking-W
mr nimblewick @ Dec 30th 2007 6:41PM
All I can think of when I see the one they used is "We are not amused."
ThornedVenom @ Dec 30th 2007 5:53PM
GG.
Joshua @ Dec 30th 2007 6:07PM
pwnt
mr nimblewick @ Dec 30th 2007 6:14PM
Ah, the advantages of selling multiple units per household.
Myke @ Dec 30th 2007 6:23PM
And in some cases, multiple units per GAMER. I know I'm guilty of having purchased both a DS and a DS Lite.
Karen @ Dec 30th 2007 6:36PM
Yes: Moms, dads, the kids and grandparents. Nintendo certainly made the right decision on not targeting on a specific demographic but making games that appeal to everyone.
In my family quite a few of us have our own DSs. It has made family get togethers a multigenerational multi-playing gaming feast and I love it.
mr nimblewick @ Dec 30th 2007 6:39PM
@ Myke,
Yeah, I'm still on my original Phat. I would have gotten a lite last christmas if my parents could have found one. Now I'll just wait until the next model comes out.
Vidikron (FU) @ Dec 31st 2007 3:34AM
No doubt. We have 1 phat and 2 lites in my home... only 1 PS2. I don't think portables and consoles can fairly be compared.
WorMzy @ Dec 31st 2007 3:57AM
In my house we have 4 DS's (Two original DS's, and two Lites) and 3 PS2's (One original black one, one original silver one, and one thin black one), and I doubt that we're the only household to have multiple PS2's.
ButteryLLAMA @ Dec 31st 2007 11:47AM
Actually, I've seen households with multiple consoles. Right now in my girl friend's parent's house there are 3 regular Xbox and 2 360's. And My friend's family had two PS2's. Technically three because they broke one and bought a new one. So yeah, I don't see a problem comparing consoles to hand held systems. =)
Myke @ Dec 30th 2007 6:19PM
This is just the beginning.
Patrick @ Dec 30th 2007 9:06PM
umm mike i dunno if anyone told you but you can't like four systems
Patrick @ Dec 30th 2007 9:07PM
i mean five....
Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Dec 30th 2007 11:41PM
IT'S BLASPHEMOUS!!! A GAMER WHO LIKES ALL CONSOLE. IT JUST DOESN'T HAPPEN!!!
Unless he's a skrull.
Trev @ Dec 31st 2007 3:19AM
Shit. You got me.
LiK @ Dec 30th 2007 6:36PM
shovelware publishers rejoice~!
LilCo187 @ Dec 31st 2007 3:04AM
Unless they're rejoicing the fact their shovelware is stacking piles on store shelves, I doubt it.
LiK @ Dec 31st 2007 7:07AM
oh sure, if their software was really doing so badly, we wouldn't be seeing sequels to so many crappy DS titles by third-party publishers
Jhongerkong @ Dec 30th 2007 6:37PM
while it may be odd to compare handheld sales to console ones (as handhelds = 1 or more per gamer, consoles = 1 per house); im guessing many households bought more than one ps2 after the first ones laser died out*.
*early adopters faced disk read errors, enough to even spike a lawsuit; flame shield on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ps2#Disc_read_error
Anticrawl @ Dec 30th 2007 7:19PM
Yeah I went through 3 or so PS3s before I finally stopped giving a shit. My dreamcast got the only playtime out of any gaming time I had and my gamecube collected dust. It was a dark time for gaming indeed. But a great time to be a PC gamer, yeah I owned all the consoles last generation but I never fucking played them because they'd either break (PS2), have no games (gamecube), or threaten to catch my house on fire (Xbox). I'm just happy I had Unreal Tournament on the PC to keep me from going insane.
Anticrawl @ Dec 30th 2007 10:44PM
Bah! What the fuck, I meant PS2s. My ps3 hasn't crapped out on me.
samfish @ Dec 30th 2007 7:16PM
Someday I'm going to buy a DS.
I WAS going to buy one the day Professor Layton came out.
...but then Nintendo decided it was a good idea to release that the same day Brawl drops, so...maybe some other time!
Anticrawl @ Dec 30th 2007 7:20PM
Crazy you don't have a DS. They had lots of local retail stores selling the Zelda ones with the game for 99.99 around here. If I didn't already own one and my girlfriend didn't have one I would have bought it.
The Artist formally known as Jesus @ Dec 30th 2007 7:39PM
I'm gonna guess you're going to pick up Super Princess Peach along with it?
LiK @ Dec 30th 2007 7:54PM
you still dont own a DS? lots of great games. btw, where did you get your avatar? ^.^
Jamesology @ Dec 30th 2007 9:48PM
WOW... I still prefer the PSP over the DS anytime, but come on, it's a DS. The DS is a great deal, even though I stay in Canada and pay 149.99 plus 13%tx. it was still a great deal to me. I own two DS Lites, a black one and I recently grabbed a yellow pika edition + the R4/2gb in Akihabara. It helps me get through shopping with my GF.. (:/)
Oh an also, got my GF a pink one. I say it's a good time to get a DSLite now before Nintendo decides to upgrade it again. That happened to me when I bought my Ipod Nano. Right after I bought my Nano, Apple changes it's design.
Mr.ESC @ Dec 30th 2007 10:41PM
Huh I thought everyone had one.
I have one but I rarelly play with it,even on vacation I prefer my PSP mostly because I lots of PSP games.
I'm going to Cancun so I might use my DS for a change,I never ended Phantom Hourglass and I bought some old GBA games for it (Super Mario Bros 3 Advanced FTW).
Anticrawl @ Dec 30th 2007 10:52PM
@Mr. ESC
Yeah I love Super Mario 3 Advance. I have a Gameboy Micro with that in it (They had the limited edition famicom ones on sale for 25 bucks flat at my Walmart). Truth be told I play the Micro more than I do my DS or PSP. My PSP doesn't get much play time since I haven't bought a game since LocoRoco and I play Castlevania on my DS from time-to-time but I just don't travel often enough anymore to get any use out of my handhelds. Typically I play home consoles or the PC now-a-days. Kinda hard to get your game on in the middle of a college class.
roxxxo @ Dec 30th 2007 11:57PM
a ds for $100? i sure haven't seen that price anywhere
oh well, i don't really like zelda or most other nintendo 1st party games
itouchmyself @ Dec 30th 2007 7:39PM
In before Fernando!
Anticrawl @ Dec 30th 2007 7:49PM
Apparently not before the douchebags though *points at itouchmyself*
Mr.ESC @ Dec 30th 2007 10:42PM
Burned.
plyx @ Dec 30th 2007 7:43PM
The Japanese also buy a shitload of seafood-flavored candy.
*Goes back to playing Phantom Hourglass*
James @ Dec 30th 2007 7:57PM
Yea, no surprise here. It's the best gaming machine since the big bang.
Still can't believe the old Sony hopefuls who thought the DS was going to flop too. Absolutely golden.
Nick the Hero of Canton @ Dec 30th 2007 8:22PM
TODAY? JAPAN!
TOMORROW? THE WORLD!
"Gee Brain, what do you want to do tonight?"
The same thing we do every night, Pinky—Try to take over the world."
d3rr1ck64 @ Dec 30th 2007 8:57PM
...DS is POS IMO. Low-res, boring games aside from the stuff the Big N makes and it sells like crazy...
Anticrawl @ Dec 30th 2007 9:12PM
Clearly you know something 20+ million people don't know.
d3rr1ck64 @ Dec 30th 2007 9:15PM
XD I guess I've always been more of a console gamer lol
mr mobius @ Dec 30th 2007 10:10PM
Guess I've always been more of a 'play for fun' gamer because I don't see the difference.
ill trooper @ Dec 30th 2007 8:58PM
This is very impressive, but in my oft-ignored, not-really-very-important-anyway little corner of the huge world, I never really consider home consoles and handhelds to be in the same market... Complementary devices, for sure, but still exlusive from another.
I know that you likely disagree if you're a sales-junkee, and no fightin' words intended here. Just my thoughts.
BPM - The 3rd Strike @ Dec 31st 2007 4:03AM
I agree, Ill.
While, yes, they may be beasts of different colors, the fact is, the more you're playing one, the less you play the other.
I've been ignoring my Wii, not because I have nothing to play on it (quite the contrary, really), but because I've got a lot for the DS going on.
Pokémon's still a constant of mine. I haven't gotten all of mah Pokemans yet (mostly due to the fact that even though I got D/P at launch, I put it on hold for several months due to playing JP Phantom Hourglass and college eating a lot of my time). And then I get Megaman ZX Advent, Sonic Rush Adventure, Geometry Wars Galaxies, and Planet Puzzle League for Christmas/Birthday (Dec 31st). And then I get a used copy of Elite Beat Agents.
Man... If only I could make clones of myself to play multiple games at once...
dignan17 @ Dec 30th 2007 9:46PM
To Joystiq- I'm surprised you didn't mention the most impressive figure in this story: total time each system has been on the market. The DS was released FOUR years and NINE months after the PS2. The DS has been on the market there for less time than that (three years this month). That's the angle that impresses me the most.
name123 @ Dec 30th 2007 10:43PM
So comparing handhelds to consoles is fair game now? Okay.
PSP sales in Japan for the past 4 weeks: 520k
Xbox 360 sales in Japan since launch: 530k
It's mainly because the Japanese don't buy any products that come from Xbox 360 owners suck.
Jake11 @ Dec 30th 2007 10:56PM
what was the point of that? seriously, why do you do this? is somebody paying you
Mike @ Dec 30th 2007 11:25PM
Because, you know, comparing the 360 to the PS2 makes SO MUCH SENSE.
>_
mrfong @ Dec 30th 2007 11:59PM
@ Jake11
Fernando is tired of being the punching bag, so he's paying name123 to be a complete douche to distract everyone :P
i_hate_mtv @ Dec 31st 2007 1:41AM
I knew one of them would come in here eventually.
Farseer (GDI) @ Dec 31st 2007 2:27AM
Wow.. it's name123. I figured that the banhammer fell heavy on you a while ago. How goes it genius?
(on second thought, I peeked at your comment history. The banhammer must have fallen on your old IP, being that this account was created a whopping 3 days ago. Keep it up, they'll ban this IP too. I would rather they didn't though. Your posts are amusing.)