Nintendo 3DS Sells 15 Million Units in the US, 52 Million Worldwide

The Nintendo 3DS family of systems has now reached 15 million units sold in the United States, becoming the eighth Nintendo system to reach that mark in the country. Nintendo said in a statement that the success of the platform was made possible by the array of great games available for it.

“'Software sells hardware' has been Nintendo's mantra for nearly 30 years. And, when you consistently make fun, unique, exclusive games featuring the likes of Mario, Link, Donkey Kong, and Pokémon, you can sell a lot of hardware," Nintendo said in a statement.

The 3DS debuted in the US in March 2011--initial sales were disappointing, and Nintendo implemented a major price cut just months later.

Since then, Nintendo has released games from its biggest franchises for the device, including Super Mario, Pokemon, Mario Kart, and recently, Smash Bros.

In Nintendo's announcement today, it did not list all of the other seven Nintendo platforms to reach 15 million unit sales in the US. But Destructoid has confirmed with Nintendo that the others are: the NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and Wii.

Worldwide, the 3DS has sold more than 52 million systems. System sales data for the remaining major regions, including Europe, Japan, and others, was not made available.

Nintendo went on to say that, even though the 3DS has been on sale for more than 50 months now in the US, it "continues to resonate" with players. Backing this up, Nintendo revealed that, in the first six months of 2015, 3DS hardware sales have risen by more 50 percent compared to the same period in 2014.

A significant portion of this growth is attributed to the New Nintendo 3DS XL, the latest revision of the system that that launched in February.

“While crossing 15 million units is certainly a significant milestone, we are equally excited about the new momentum we’ve created in 2015 thanks to new hardware and an unrivaled library of software," Nintendo marketing executive Scott Moffitt said in a statement. "With more great games on the way and a hardware system for every type of gamer, 2015 is shaping up to be one of the stronger years yet for Nintendo 3DS in the United States."

Nintendo also updated its life-to-date hardware sales numbers for the US today. Since the NES first arrived in 1985, Nintendo has sold nearly 270 million pieces of Nintendo hardware in the country. This includes nearly 145 million handheld units and around 125 million home consoles.

We're expecting lots more Nintendo news next week during E3.