3DS hardware sales decline year

Sales of the Nintendo 3DS in the first half of 2013 have declined compared to the same period in 2012.

As part of its recent financial report, Nintendo has revealed that 3DS sales for the first half of the financial year (April-September 2013) totalled 3.89 million worldwide, compared to 5.06 million in the same period last year.

Within this, however, the 3DS XL system has increased in sales - from 2.1 million to 2.9 million - suggesting a decline on the standard 3DS system is responsible for the overall drop.

Software sales have also undergone a sharp increase, with 27 million games sold in the first half of 2013 compared to 19 million in the first half of the previous year. Animal Crossing: New Leaf alone has sold 2.5 million copies worldwide during the six months, Nintendo said. When including its pre-April sales, the popular sim game has now sold 6.4 million units in total.

To date, Nintendo has sold 34.98 million 3DS systems globally, of which about a third are the larger 3DS XL model. Lifetime software sales for 3DS are at 122 million.

Nintendo remains optimistic in its forecast for the entire year, predicting that 3DS hardware sales from April 2013 to March 2014 will reach 18 million.

The company will expect the recent release of Pokemon X & Y and its cheaper Nintendo 2DS hardware to help it reach this forecast. As both were released in October 2013, their sales are not counted in the above figures, though Nintendo reports that Pokemon had 'extremely strong initial sales'.

In the six months since April, Nintendo made $2 billion in sales, though costs and international market rates left it with a net profit of $6.1 million. The improvement is dramatic - in the same period last year, the company lost $285 million,