Software all right, hardware not so much.
The NPD Group has released their US sales figures for April, and although a few surprising software numbers have been released, Nintendo hardware struggled with only one major release to buoy it.
In the combined software charts, Smash Bros for Wii U and 3DS combined to be the 9th best selling set of games in April. The NPD also confirmed in the report that as far as individual games per system goes (a "single SKU basis") both Mario Party 10 and Xenoblade Chronicles 3D would have been in the top 10.
Hardware sales did not fare as well, however. Nintendo issued a statement to VentureBeat indicating 3DS family sales were up 65% over the first four months of 2014 and Wii U sales were up 15% in the same time frame. This translates to 114,000 "members of the 3DS family" sold (2DS, 3DS XL, New 3DS XL) and just 43,000 Wii U sales.
Nintendo clearly is hoping that Splatoon (complete with Wii U bundle) and the Puzzle and Dragons Z/Super Mario pack juice system sales for May.
So if New 3DS sales are not doing very well why is it that I still can't find a N3DS on the shelves at Best Buy or Walmart? I expected everyone to say Wii U sales aren't great, but New 3DS is flying off the shelves. Heck it's easier to find an Amiibo than a New 3DS here where I live 2 Walmarts and 1 Best Buy nobody ever has 1 in stock.
So if New 3DS sales are not doing very well why is it that I still can't find a N3DS on the shelves at Best Buy or Walmart? I expected everyone to say Wii U sales aren't great, but New 3DS is flying off the shelves. Heck it's easier to find an Amiibo than a New 3DS here where I live 2 Walmarts and 1 Best Buy nobody ever has 1 in stock.
Nintendo's new strategy appears to be to under-produce everything to create the illusion that everything is a runaway success. Seriously though, I see New 3DS's all the time where I live so it probably just varies by area.
And I'd bet the kind of people who went out and bought a New 3DS are probably more likely than average to be people who buy their games digitally, and those purchases don't show up in the NPDs.