3DS eShop off to an $11.1 million start

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2 mins read

The first indication of how financially successful the Nintendo eShop may be has emerged, with analysts, FADE LLC, publishing what it estimates is the first year’s worth of sales for the platform.

It’s predicting $US11.1 million worth of software has been downloaded between the 3DS Virtual Console, 3D Classics and original downloadable games. It’s important to remember that these are just estimations, as Nintendo keeps its download sales figures close to its chest, but FADE is usually a reliable source of data.

According to FADE, the top ten games in terms of revenue are:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Nintendo) – 338,700 Units / $2.3 Million USD (VC)
2. 3D Classics: Excitebike (Nintendo) – 481,100 Units / $1.3 Million USD (eShop)
3. Super Mario Land (Nintendo) – 230,500 Units / $1.1 Million USD (VC)
4. Freakyforms: Your Creations, Alive! (Nintendo) – 112,700 Units / $969,000 USD (eShop)
5. Pushmo (Nintendo) – 93,300 Units / $634,000 USD (eShop)
6. Kirby’s Dream Land (Nintendo) – 84,500 Units / $384,000 USD (VC)
7. Let’s Golf! 3D (Gameloft) – 43,200 Units / $356,000 USD (eShop)
8. Donkey Kong (Nintendo) – 82,800 Units / $348,000 USD (VC)
9. 3D Classics: Xevious (Nintendo) – 47,900 Units / $301,000 USD (eShop)
10. Hyu Stone (Poisoft) – 50,300 Units / $293,000 USD

There’s a problem here, though the numbers are a positive start for a console that initially struggled in the market. The problem is tat Nintendo utterly dominates the sales, indicating that third party publishers, thus far, have struggled. Just two seem to have sold over 50,000 units.

Given that those that haven’t sold well include the awesome Zen Pinball, The early signs are that Nintendo is going to again struggle to attract third parties unless Nintendo can start providing a platform they can sell through.

FADE agrees, with director of research and analysis, Benjamin Schlichter, saying via a release “Nintendo generated 81 per cent of gross revenues among downloadable titles in 2011, asserting dominance during the year. However, in order for the 3DS market to grow, Nintendo will need to promote 3rd parties in 2012″”

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  • I guess that's good for Nintendo. They posted big losses recently, so that should help them out, but yeah this always seems a curse/blessing for Nintendo. When they launched the 3DS, first party support was weak because they wanted to give the third parties room to shine, alas that did not go well for either party. So I think their stuff doing the best (especially at the beginning) is sort of inevitable for them and they have to try and use that to their advantage (perhaps somehow having suggestions for third party software when one buys first party software…a sort of if you liked this, you may like this). Their newsletters already do feature quite a few third party DL titles, but I'm sure only a small fraction reads that so making something like that on the eshop would probably be best. I read that Iwata wants to add in reviews so that could also help a lot. Well good luck Nintendo!

  • I guess that's good for Nintendo. They posted big losses recently, so that should help them out, but yeah this always seems a curse/blessing for Nintendo. When they launched the 3DS, first party support was weak because they wanted to give the third parties room to shine, alas that did not go well for either party. So I think their stuff doing the best (especially at the beginning) is sort of inevitable for them and they have to try and use that to their advantage (perhaps somehow having suggestions for third party software when one buys first party software…a sort of if you liked this, you may like this). Their newsletters already do feature quite a few third party DL titles, but I'm sure only a small fraction reads that so making something like that on the eshop would probably be best. I read that Iwata wants to add in reviews so that could also help a lot. Well good luck Nintendo!

  • Thanks for dropping by, great post and I agree with you 🙂

    I personally think things will improve a lot for third parties once DLC comes through. We've seen it happen on the other consoles – a company doesn't sell all that many copies of the game initially, but the people that buy it support it further by buying the DLC, and it ends up being a profitable game.

    I would be interested in seeing sales figures for DSiWare, and whether many thirdparties have managed to make an impact there, too.

  • Thanks for dropping by, great post and I agree with you 🙂

    I personally think things will improve a lot for third parties once DLC comes through. We've seen it happen on the other consoles – a company doesn't sell all that many copies of the game initially, but the people that buy it support it further by buying the DLC, and it ends up being a profitable game.

    I would be interested in seeing sales figures for DSiWare, and whether many thirdparties have managed to make an impact there, too.

  •  DSiWare sales would definitely be interesting, especially since most people predict it wasn't too successful. Although WayForward seems to have found some success on Nintendo's digital platforms as they have continued making games for Nintendo's digital stores. It would be interesting to see how their titles compare to Nintendo's, sales-wise, especially since Mighty Switch Force isn't on the top ten.

  • Speaking of WayForward, I would be really interested to see how the revenues from Shantae on the iPad/ iPhone compared to the DSiWare game.

    I suspect it sold better on the iOS, which might start to pull WayForward in that direction in the future. 

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