DS Crushes All in Its Path

Jan. 25 8:53 AM by Lynxara

Portable Video Gamer has a yearly breakdown of Nintendo DS sales in 2007 up, and wow are they huge. The DS, like the GBA before it, is quickly surpassing other consoles and portables to become the world's most popular gaming system.

The official numbers are in, and the DS had a tremendous year in terms of sales and market expansion. By the end of last year, the system was just shy of selling 65 million units worldwide. 2007s second quarter saw a significant jump in sales, surely aided by the Pokémon craze. As good as that was, however, the holiday rush and the popularity of titles such as Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Mario Party DS gave the DS its best quarter sales ever, going above 11 million systems sold in a three-month period.

PVG thinks the DS might hit 100 million units sold in 2008. If it doesn't, it may only be manufacturing constraints that keep it from doing so. If the Q4 craze is spilling over to Q1, then that probably explains the sudden shortage of DSes.