European Sales of the Nintendo DS reach 6 million
15th September 2006 - The Nintendo DS hit the shelves back in March 2005 and has now gone on to conquer the handheld market in Europe, with a staggering 6 million consoles sold and a series of hit games from Nintendo's Touch! Generations range ensuring that this success continues.
Following the successful launch of the sleek Nintendo DS Lite, the Nintendo DS has secured Nintendo's lead in the handheld market, maintaining an impressive 70% share of the market for eleven consecutive weeks. What's more the Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite has captivated the female gaming audience with 44% of all consoles being sold to women.
Laurent Fischer, European Marketing Director for Nintendo commented,
"Nintendo has always sought to innovate and produce games and consoles that appeal to everyone irrespective of age or experience. The Nintendo DS has done just this and been a phenomenal success, along with the Touch! Generation range that has expanded the gaming audience by providing something for everyone no matter who they are"
Nintendo's Touch! Generations series has sparked the interest of gamers and non-gamers alike. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is your Brain? took Japan by storm and is seeing similar success in Europe where it is selling even faster than it did in Japan. More than 700,000 copies have sold across Europe since it's launch, the majority of these to over 25s.
In similar form, Nintendogs, the first title in the Touch! Generations range, which launched in October 2005, has shipped over 4 million copies in Europe alone! Animal Crossing: Wild World also captured the imagination of European fans with 850,000 copies sold allowing people to live happy second lives.
With a host of new and exciting Touch! Generations titles scheduled to launch in the near future Nintendo will be introducing many more new people to gaming.
With the Nintendo DS Lite Pink soon to join the Nintendo DS family across Europe, on 27th October priced at around 150, there will a console for everyone to enjoy.
For all the latest information on Touch! Generation titles please visit www.touchgenerations.com. Click onto www.nintendo-europe-media.com for all of the most up to date official information on Nintendo.
For more information contact the Nintendo UK Press Office on 0207 307 3103.
If you require information on Friday 15th September 2006 please call Stephanie Moses (07791 717 790), Sian Dobson (07791 717 732) or
Bianca Lee-Chang (07791 717 734)
Touch Generations
Nintendo recognises that everyone is different and has different interests and requirements from their games. Touch! Generations is a new range of software developed by Nintendo, which will appeal to people of all age groups, irrespective of ability or experience. All Touch! Generations software will be clearly labelled with the new Touch! Generations logo, allowing people to instantly identify these unique titles.
Touch! Generations titles currently available for the Nintendo DS include: Nintendogs, Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? Electroplankton, Big Brain Academy, Tetris DS
About Nintendo
Nintendo Co., Ltd. of Kyoto, Japan, is the acknowledged worldwide leader in the creation of interactive entertainment. To date, Nintendo has sold more than 2.2 billion video games worldwide and more than 375 million hardware units globally, creating such industry icons as MarioÆ and Donkey Kong and launched franchises like The Legend of ZeldaÆ and PokÈmon. Nintendo manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home video game systems, including the Nintendo 64, NINTENDO GAMECUBE, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and Game Boy - the world's best-selling video game system which has sold over 193 million units. As a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of Europe, based in Grossostheim, Germany, was established in 1990 and serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in Europe.