When I started writing this sentence, a DS was sold to some lucky consumer. By the time I finished writing that sentence, another DS was sold. According to Nintendo’s internal numbers, this dynamic basically played itself out for all of 2007, as a DS was sold roughly every five seconds. That’s about 6 million DS units sold in 2007 so far.
It’s an incredible milestone for the system, but everyone out there today seems to think it’s due for a dip sometime soon. That’s the easy analysis thogh–what if it isn’t due for a slowdown? What are some things that could ustain this growth well into 2008?
Gizmodo opined this week that a redesigned DS, complete with bigger screens and a host of new features is due. The re-launch would renew interest in the handheld much like the DS Lite did in 2006 (some of those features listed by Gizmodo aren’t really all that new, but they would be for a Nintendo handheld). I think that as soon as we see any kind of stumble from the DS, Nintendo will reveal the redesign that basically everyone and their Nintendog knows it waiting in the wings.
Or Nintendo’s Japan strategy could take hold in the States, where households start buying multiple DS’s for each member of the family. This could be playing out already, especially as parents like mine start buying up vision training and brain training games en masse. Or grandparents, for that matter.
And even if there is a slowdown, the wall at my local GameStop tells me that there won’t be a similar dip in software sales (yes, for all you literalists out there, sometimes I talk to the wall). What was once relegated to the back of the store with only one wall unit is now front and center, with at least three wall sections. The upcoming list of DS software in 2008 leads me to believe these three sections will only get more cramped. Still, a modernized redesign (that would only inimally piss off existing DS Lite owners) would be welcome.
On a related note, be sure to check out David’s upcoming Top 10 Most Anticipated DS games of 2008, which is due out here on Infendo very soon.