Nintendo 3DS outsold by PSP in rare reversal

Nintendo may have seen some early trouble with the Nintendo 3DS as new weekly data from sales tracking at Media Create showed it being outsold by the Sony PSP in Japan. The roughly six-year-old PSP saw a sharp 7,000 unit increase last week and hit 58,075 units. Nintendo's system dropped by roughly 8,000 to hit 42,979, leaving a wide gap.

The researchers credited the PSP's spike to the new dating sim Amagami. A new BlazBlue game also did relatively well and was joined by five other PSP games in the top 10. Just one 3DS game, Pro Yakyu Famista 2011, managed to enter the top 10.

The PSP has traditionally fared better in Japan than in the US owing to Sony loyalty and to a preference for titles the PSP is more likely to carry, such as Japanese-style role-playing games. US sales of Nintendo systems are usually higher owing to a more child-oriented market and a lack of interest in the same game genres. Its sales results are potentially disconcerting all the same since Nintendo was seeing long lineups on launch day.

For Nintendo, much is riding on the success of the 3DS as it not only tries to preempt the Sony NGP but to shore up sales against the iPod touch and iPhone. Nintendo saw steep dropoffs this past holiday versus a year ago and is thought to have been hurt both by gamers waiting for the 3DS as well as those who decided to buy one of Apple's devices instead, even if gaming wasn't necessarily the core focus for platform switchers.

The iPhone and iPod aren't tailored primarily for gaming but have developed a reputation for some platform firsts and exclusives and have a much lower average game price, dropping from $30 to $40 to $10 or less. [via GamePro]

By Electronista Staff