Nintendo US claims record day-one 3DS sales
Hardware manufacturer does not reveal figures; Euro numbers expected this week
Nintendo of America has claimed that the 3DS has achieved the highest day-one sales of any of its handhelds to date.
It did not go into any detail, but said more information would be made available next month by the NPD Group when it gathers first week sales for the system.
"US day-one sales numbers for Nintendo 3DS were the highest of any Nintendo hand-held system in our history," said the company, reports IndustryGamers.
"Nintendo worked hard to get as much product as possible to retailers on day one to meet demand, and we will continue with these efforts moving forward."
In the UK sale figures haven't been forthcoming. Nintendo has promised to release figures later in the week, telling GamesIndustry.biz that an initial problem with data monitor Chart-Track caused a delay, and indicating that it will group European numbers together stating "we're just waiting for final numbers from other Euro markets before we announce" details.
Chart-Track also told GamesIndustry.biz earlier in the week that it had done an initial tally of sales but "may change our estimated coverage" - meaning the percentage of the market where it does not receive solid sales data from retailer partners.
Despite an expected strong start, retailers in the UK still have enough stock of the console to meet demand.
It emerged today that specialist retailer GAME had given its UK stores permission to buy new stock from rival supermarket Tesco in order to offer second hand deals to customers, but with stock still in plentiful supply that plan may have backfired.
Nintendo told GamesIndustry.biz that it does not anticipate supply problems as it has done in the past with the Wii.
"We are confident that we have a good enough supply of stock in the market to continue to meet demand," said a spokesperson.
Software for the system entered the UK charts this week, but Capcom's Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition was the only 3DS-exclusive game to break the top five.
LucasArts' multiformat LEGO Star Wars III took the second place, but GAME had warned that stock of the 3D edition was tight in the UK.