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I should note the fact that, of all the territories around the world, it was taking the longest time for the portable sales to shift from Game Boy Advance to DS in the United States. The situation has finally altered this summer and afterward. DS is already the biggest selling hardware, but as for software, DS had been having hard time becoming mainstream because Game Boy Advance software, with the huge hardware installed basis, is still attracting so many customers. |
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In this chart, we are focusing on just the two months of September and October.
In September 2006, DS software outsold Game Boy Advance software for the first time.
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For anyone, the UK sell-through data is the most accessible of all European countries' and the UK sell-through numbers are sometimes reported as if they represent all of Europe. The fact is, however, each country has different preferences of hardware. Europe is the territory which consists of different countries with different market situations. To come up with a more precise picture, we have sorted out the cumulative sell-through estimates in four major European countries. Specifically, this is data Nintendo has compiled, based upon the sell-through data publicized by independent market research companies in each region. For your information, when we add the numbers available in other countries, by the end of November this year, the cumulative sell-thru of DS was more than 7million in all of Europe, and 6 DS titles passed one million sales mark. |
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When we look at the monthly sales, it is obvious that the European market has been driven by DS since the summer. Also, sometimes it was reported that Microsoft is strong both in the U.S. and Europe, but the situation appears to be different when we look at the sell-through situations in 4 major countries in Europe. |
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The cumulative sales trend for 2006 looks like this. We feel that the significant market change which happened with DS in Japan at the end of 2005 is likely to take place in Europe as well. More than 400,000 units of DS hardware were sold in the last week. In these four major European countries, the most notable change has taken place in France. |
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This is the data from GfK research company and the game software hit chart in France two weeks ago. The yellow portions represent DS software. There are 6 DS titles on the top 10 list, and 14 in Top 20. We cannot help but feel DS is becoming the market driver. |
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This is the game software hit chart in Germany two weeks ago. The yellow portions represent DS software. There are 5 DS titles on the top 10 list, and 8 in Top 15. |
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