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Portables (Games) Entertainment Games

Nintendogs Sells Quarter of a Millions Units 78

Posted by Zonk from the in-one-week dept.
Zangief writes "Nintendogs, the quirky DS title about dogs, has sold more than a quarter of a million units in its first week on the U.S. market. This puts to rest the argument that Nintendogs wouldn't appeal to the Western consumers, obsessed with 'mature' games." Expect our look at the title next week.
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Nintendogs Sells Quarter of a Millions Units More

Nintendogs Sells Quarter of a Millions Units

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  • A quarter of a millions, eh? That could be anything up to 250 million :-P
    • Technically there is no upper limit established here.

      They could have sold anywhere from 500,000 to infinity units by that grammar.

      I come about at those numbers by inferring that since "millions" is plural it must mean more than one million so 500,000 is 25% of two million, and that once you reach 999,000,000 you do not necessarily have to begin counting in billions. You could have one million millions just as easily as you could have a trillion.
      • What about one and a millionth millions?

        I think that is propper grammer.

        I know I would say one and a half dollors not one and a half dollor, extending that logic 1.00000000000000000000000000000000001 of something is plural?
  • ...And the week after that, and again the next week.
  • Well to quote Uncle Jed, weeeellllll doggies! That's a lot of units. As with most successful things, prepare for loads of imitators and maybe even a new peripheral from Sony. Though I suspect a similar game could be created using the eye toy.

  • Sponsoring television too... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Ford Prefect ( 8777 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @12:13PM (#13464786) Homepage
    There's a prime-time television programme in the UK called 'It's Me or the Dog' - one of the never-ending succession of formats involving things like unruly children and the taming thereof, unhygienic students and the fumigation thereof, infectious kitchens and the incineration thereof, ad nauseam...

    It's sponsored by 'Nintendogs'. I've no idea if the game's even available in the UK yet - but I still couldn't help but think of Penny Arcade's approach [penny-arcade.com]... ;-)

  • Not everyone can have a pet (Score:5, Insightful)

    by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @12:20PM (#13464835)
    Second, from TFA: Nintendogs Selling Outta Control Who knew so many were too lazy to raise real pets? My sentiments exactly.

    I lived on a farm for a lot of my life or in a small town and was able to have pets if I wanted to. However, there are a lot of people who just aren't able to have pets. If you live in a big city in an apartment, chances are you won't be able to have a cat or a dog. If you're still living with your parents there's nothing you can do about it. A 14 year old can't just got out an get a place of their own and have a pet.

    Additionally, pets can be very expensive and time consuming. You can generally get one for low costs from an animal shelter, but a specific breed is going to cost you some money. After thise you need to continually buy food which varies in price depending how much your dog or cat can eat.

    Next there are vet expenses associated with keepign the animal healthy. A dog might need to be fixed so you don't end up with puppies. Shots and vaccinations are always a good idea as well.

    Now add in some of your time. It's going to take time to feed, water, and care for the pet. Add in time to teach it to behave and house break it and that adds up.

    You could easily spend thousands of dollars in food, care, and time taking care of a real pet, assuming you can even have one in the first place. Or you can go out and buy a DS for $130 and the game for another $35 or so and play it at your leisure. Is it the same as having a real pet? Of coruse not. But it might be a good thing for some people who've wanted pets but are unable to keep them or afford them.

  • More Impressive (Score:5, Informative)

    by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Friday September 02, 2005 @12:23PM (#13464850) Homepage
    What I find more impressive is that in the first week, more than 1 in 7 DS owners bought a copy. 15% of everyone who owned a DS bought one in the first week in the US. My understanding is that no game has ever sold that well after a system has launched.

    The game caused the DS to outsell all other hardware COMBINED in Japan for quite a while. I wonder if it will do that here too.

    • What I find more impressive is that in the first week, more than 1 in 7 DS owners bought a copy. 15% of everyone who owned a DS bought one in the first week in the US. My understanding is that no game has ever sold that well after a system has launched.

      I think you're forgetting about HALO. Not sure what the stats are for HALO 2 though...
      • Halo was a launch title, which he's excluding.

        Halo 2 is in the same league though, it's sold over 5 million and there are about 20 million xboxes worldwide, IIRC.
        • I would considder Halo a launch title. I must say I'm suprised that Halo 2 has sold a copy for every 4 xboxes (I wouldn't think it would be so high), the real thing to note here is that Nintendogs managed this in a WEEK, where as Halo 2 has been our for a few months now.

          I can't find any first week information for Halo 2. The only number I saw was 2.38 million for the first day, which would put it about 1 in 8 so it may be the same (unless that number was for somee other time period). It's entirely possible

          • There's a hype difference, too. Halo 2 had launch parties out the wazoo, all kinds of media hype. Nintendogs just kind of arrived. I imagine a lot of people didn't know much about it until they saw it in the weekly Target ad or something. The only places I'd read about it are gamer-centric sites and Slashdot. Or maybe there was a decent media campaign and I'm just largely disconnected from mainstream media... which could easily be the case.
          • Yes, sorry, I misinterpreted your post.

            Halo 2 had over 1.5 million preorders in the US, and presumably sold more in the first week. So I could believe 2 million in that week.

            Anyway, your point stands. Nintendogs is a huge seller, and certainly has one of the highest game/console sales ratios out there.
      • They are talking about a game released after system launch. Halo was THE launch title for the Xbox. Almost nobody bought anything else, mainly because there were few other good games.

        Yeah, not sure what the stats are for Halo 2, though.
    • I remember reading once that by system sales, Super Smash Brothers Meelee was the most successful game, with about half of all GameCube owners having a copy of Meelee.
      I don't know if that still applies, but it looks as if Nintendogs is going to get close.

  • Maturity (Score:3, Insightful)

    by AsiNisiMasa ( 910721 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @12:34PM (#13464930) Homepage
    This puts to rest the argument that Nintendogs wouldn't appeal to the Western consumers, obsessed with 'mature' games.

    I hope a lot of game developers are paying attention to this. I don't meant to say there's anything wrong with what anyone else does for fun, but I've had enough GTA for a lifetime. Between this and Katamari, I hope the industry will be pushed to make games complex enough for older audiences without the normally associated "adult" themes.
     
    I don't mean to say the adult themes should disappear or that the light-hearted games don't exist. I just hope that sales of games like this cause a shift in the curretn ratio of quality light/dark themed games.

    • Re:Maturity (Score:3, Insightful)

      by superpulpsicle ( 533373 )
      People are tired of these serious, hardcore, frustrating games. I used to beat every game in the 80s, I beat less of them in the 90s. Now I find myself needing cheats to just get by. It's ridiculous.

      Katamari and Nintendogs set the trend for going back to the days when games are just good for messing around. Every plot revolves around some group of teenagers saving the world anyways, these two games are truely unique.

  • The new Tamagotchi? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by stoborrobots ( 577882 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @12:55PM (#13465106)
    So is Nintendogs the new Tamagotchi [mimitchi.com]?

    It sure seems like it: virtual pet which you have to care for in order to keep alive, and became a craze overnight....
    • I believe so.

      But it is much better done from the reviews.

      You can 'pet' the dog with the touch screen.

      He will get sick and look ragged if you don't take care of him etc.

      I think a lot of nice touches have been added to the game.

      While I don't have a DS and probably never will, I find the concept of the game silly and fascinating all at the smae time.

      Maybe I find it fascinating that people find the game fascinating.

      Nevertheless, I enjoy seeing interesting games like this even if I never play them.
    • no, its not a tamagotchi. it cant die, and requires no care. its a sim only in the good parts of owning a dog.

      you play, you pet. thats about it.
    • No. TamagotchiDS [gamespot.com] is the new Tamagotchi [ign.com], for the DS too!

  • I have a DS and think it's great, but 250,000 titles inside of one week isn't all that. Halo2 sold around 2 million inuts in one day, and even that wasn't a record (which I believe is one of the mario titles or final fantasy...)

    However, Its more notable due to the DS' user base in the US (2 million, right?), but not on the number alone. 1 user in 8 picked it up, which is impressive, and hopefully will be a wake up call to third parties: DS users like it when you exploit the unique abilities of a plat
    • Is Band Brothers ever coming to the US? I finally gave up and imported it. I couldn't wait any longer.
      • PlanetGamecube recently had a blurb to the effect that it is due to arrive in US soon. We'll see...

        Im curious, how do you like the import version? Does the language barrier get in the way of navigation/gameplay or is it one of those games that you can pick up and play regardless? If it get's delayed again I may just import it too.
        • I thought the mailbags over at the same place had been saying that it was looking less and less likely, it's been delayed so long.

          This is a game that seriously needs to come out over here. It might not be a big seller, but it would do a lot to show that Nintendo's not just all-talk and Japan-only when it comes to innovation. And after they hyped Electroplankton at E3, it seems awfully odd that there's no solid date for its release, either.
    • 250 in a week is top flight material. Unlike Halo2, I think that word of mouth will spur on sales, in part thanks to the widespread appeal. Halo2 moved 2 million in one day, thanks to pre-order hype and shortages. But it quickly spiked downward from there.

      Take a look at the top 10 sales for a given week, and you'll see what I mean. Annually, I think about five games will sell a million in a week. They then go on to sell another .5 to 1 million over the course of the next 51 weeks or so. Even fewer get the p
  • I bet the psp could have sell millions if they had released SonyDoggys. Oh sony.. *shakes head*
    • I don't see why they couldn't make a SonyDoggy game.
      • It wouldn't be the same, a lot of the interaction in Nintendogs happens with the stylus. That's what makes it so appealing to casuals, no need to learn that triangle pets the dog and cross throws the frisbee or something. Besides puhing buttons is very detached from the actual game.

    • I bet the psp could have sell millions if they had released SonyDoggys.

      It would compete with AIBO. Companies don't like to compete with themselves.

  • It's also moving more systems (Score:3, Informative)

    by pnice ( 753704 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @02:17PM (#13465795)
    From IGN:

    "Nearly 15 percent of all DS owners bought Nintendogs in just a week, a virtually unprecedented adoption rate for any title on an established system," said Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime. "And it's also helping sell new DS hardware. Coupled with a price drop to $129.99, retailers are reporting DS sales up between one and a half and three times previous levels, and last week DS comfortably outsold our portable competitors."

    http://ds.ign.com/articles/647/647328p1.html [ign.com]
    • What are the numbers on Advance Wars? It and Nintendogs were released the same day, and I've heard several people say they bought a DS for AW. I'm sure Nintendogs did sell systems, but I wonder if Nintendo is bending the numbers a bit to make their original title look a little more impressive.
  • The idea that since Nintendogs, a very well made pet simulator, has sold 250,000 copies in a week, somehow contradicts the notion that western gamers are tending towards more mature titles is inaccurate. Here are some raw numbers: Fable - 375,000 units in its first week. Madden 06 - 1,700,000 first week. Halo 2 - 2,800,000 first DAY. San Andreas - Over 2,500,000 in its first week. Nintendogs - 250,000 in its first week. Nintendogs will sell "ok" because its a well made game for a younger audience. The s

    • Re:Western gamers (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I think that you missed the point.

      When Nintendogs was announced much of the mainstream gaming press, and a lot of bitter 14 year old nerds (who only play 'mature' games), were claiming that this game was a huge mistake. When Nintendogs started selling amazingly well in Japan these same people were saying that it was going to do poorly in North America because of the 'cultural differences' and that american gamers (ie stupid 14 year olds) are only interested in 'Mature' titles. The fact that this has sold 1/

    • Re:Western gamers (Score:3, Insightful)

      by xgamer04 ( 248962 )
      (Reads post) ...

      What the fuck?

      The idea that since Nintendogs, a very well made pet simulator, has sold 250,000 copies in a week, somehow contradicts the notion that western gamers are tending towards more mature titles is inaccurate.

      OK seriously, this sentence is a monstrosity. If you want people to grok your point, leaving out unnecessary data is usually a good idea. Onto the "actual" points you make...

      various sales data

      I like how this anecdotal evidence is an attempt to "disprove" Nintendogs is doing we
    • The sales numbers though are not all that impressive as has been noted on this board and in reality it is just PR spinning from Nintendo.

      Well, it likely *is* the best selling game this week. That's not exactly bad. And again, one in seven DS owners bought the game in the first week.

      What it is is excellent numbers for a game released for a fairly new, portable system, and it's (probably) much better than anything yet released for the PSP.

      In other words -- it's not just PR spin, though I think you're wise t
  • Looks like all of the FPS/Halo Fanboys/Sony Fanboys have it ALL WRONG!!! I have been arguing for YEARS that E is for EVERYBODY. Unfortunately, I often get read articles like "nintndo iz teh suxors!!1 nbody plys tohse kiddy games" (Especially in EGM).

    My theory is, is that while M$ and $ony are battling it out to retain control of the VERY SMALL, percentage of potential gamers who like FPS and games that they play with one hand, Nintetndo will pick up THE REST OF THE MARKET. That is all of the people who

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