Report: Nintendo 3DS only sold just over half of its shipments in Japan

By John Callaham

A Japanese news source is reporting that the newly-released 3DS has so far only sold just over half of its shipments in its home territory.

The article, as reported by Kotaku, quotes Japanese sales tracker Media Create as saying so far just 836,000 units of the 3D-enabled portable game console have been sold in Japan.

That still leaves 664,000 units from the initial shipment as unsold so far.

The article does point out that last month’s devastating earthquake in Japan is likely one of the reasons behind the slow sales of the machine. A shortage of software for the console is another possible reason for the slower sales.

Nintendo said after 3DS’s February launch that the hardware sold 400,000 units within 48 hours on sale in Japan.