DEC. 10, 2009 • According to GfK-ChartTrack, the Nintendo DS became the best selling console ever in the United Kingdom – surpassing the 10.05 million mark. The previous record holder was the PlayStation 2 at 10.02 million. The DS took four years and eight months to capture the record, while the PS2 has been on sale for nine years.
Impact: The Nintendo DS is setting records in every major market it has been released. It is hard to believe that the system was initially seen as a knee-jerk reaction to the launch of Sony’s PSP system back in the 2004/2005 timeframe. On an annual sales basis, the DS has blown away all previous records. Meanwhile, the Wii has a long way to go to catch the PlayStation 2, but that system is also outselling the PS2 on an annual basis. Outside of the money it brings to Nintendo, the main item to note is how the level of success continues to increase as the video game industry expands. Sales may have been down in 2009, but they were down from a record year in 2008 and the industry is far above where it was five years ago.
