Nintendo sells 500,000 GBAs

Nintendo of America has announced that it sold-through 500,000 units of its Game Boy Advance handheld in the first week following its North American launch. The handheld, which is the follow-up to the hugely successful Game Boy and Game Boy Color handhelds, enjoyed the largest first week of sales in the history of game system launches. The GBA is currently sold out at most retailers nationwide, but Nintendo shipped more than 100,000 units over the weekend in order to meet the strong demand.

"We knew demand was going to be strong, but this is a record-setting response," said Peter Main, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Nintendo of America. "The good news is that we are able to ship approximately another 500,000 units by the end of June, with further product to become available through July and August."

Nintendo hopes to have shipped a total of 1 million units by the end of June. Over the remaining fiscal year, the company forecasts that it will ship 24 million Game Boy Advance units worldwide. The Game Boy Advance launched in North America on June 11 along with launch games such as Super Mario Advance, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, and Rayman Advance. More on the Game Boy Advance can be found at our dedicated launch center.