The NPD group, which specialise in tracking the consumer market, issued a statement today which revealed that the Nintendo 3DS rose above the industry competition to claim the number one spot for the month’s hardware sales. The handheld’s current success can largely be attributed to a slew of new releases in May – with Donkey Kong Country Returns, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon and Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes bolstering their way into the top-10 chart for physical software.
Here’s the list in full:
1. Injustice: Gods Among Us (360, PS3, Wii U)
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (360, PS3, PC, Wii U)
3. Donkey Kong Country Returns (3DS, Wii)
4. Dead Island: Riptide (360, PS3, PC)
5. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)
6. Metro: Last Light (360, PS3, PC)
7. NBA 2k13 (360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, PSP, PC)
8. Bioshock Infinite (360, PS3, PC)
9. Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC)
10. Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (360, PS3, PC, DS, 3DS, PS Vita, Wii U)
An underlying caveat within the analyst’s report is that overall sales have witnessed a marked decline over the last twelve months. Physical sales for the same period last year totalled $517 million, in comparison to $386.3 million for May 2013 – a decline of 44%, no less. Although it’s important to remember that these figures don’t consider digital sales from services such as Playstation Network and Xbox Live, as players increasingly turn to online outlets to purchase new games.
After stumbling out of the gate with a limited software library in 2011, the 3DS has come on leaps and bounds and has gained serious industry momentum in the past year or so. Furthermore, with Animal Crossing: New Leaf released just last week, it’s more than likely that the handheld will retain this momentum over the coming summer months. And though the company didn’t release specifics, those aforementioned hardware sales surpassed that of Microsoft, which claimed to have shipped 114,000 units of the Xbox 360 during the month of May.
Nintendo also hinted at the handheld’s future line-up at E3 last week, with games such as Mario Golf World Tour, Pokémon X & Y and The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds all being slated for release in 2013 and early 2014. We’ll keep you posted about these titles as new information becomes available. Until then, tell us what you think about the 3DS’s current and burgeoning fortunes in the comments below.