According to a report by Gamasutra, over more than 4.5 million 3DS’es have been sold in the United States since it was originally released on March 27th, 2011. More information is included after the jump.
Nintendo’s latest handheld was off to a rocky start in the West, resulting in a $80 drop from its original launch price of $249,99 in August. According to Nintendo, the sale of the console skyrocketed after the price cut and several high-profile first-party titles which were released late last year. In total, more than 9 million software units have been sold for the handheld in the United States so far.
Eight months after its initial release, the 3DS became the fastest selling console of all time – a record that was previously held by the original Nintendo DS. By comparison, the first-generation Nintendo DS sold approximately 2.25 million during its first year on the US market.
The performance of the 3DS in the United States is only slightly exceeded by the performance of the handheld in Japan. Here, just over 5 million units were sold during the first 52 weeks after launch.