Nintendo 3DS Going Strong Despite Handheld Headwinds

In the month of October, the Nintendo 3DS has sold 1.65 million devices in the United States according to the NPD Group.  This sales milestone in its eigth month on the market, put the glasses free 3D device on track to surpass the first year sales of Nintendo’s last (and extremely popular) handheld, the Nintendo DS.

Nintendo notes that first year Nintendo DS sales were around 2.37 million units in the first 12 months.  They also note that the lions share of these sales occurred in the holiday season.  The company expects history to repeat itself with a more robust offering of first party titles like Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7, the Nintendo 3DS very well could do the trick.  At least they have put themselves in position to do so.

Some analysts have been calling for the handheld to face continued pressures from smart phones and other mobile gaming platforms that have recently taken a bite out of Sony and Nintendo’s market share in the handheld gaming arena.