3DS nears UK 1m; Vita sales slow compared to PSP

Nintendo’s 3DS could hit the 1m unit sales milestone next month.

PocketGamer has reported numbers from GfK Chart-Track’s exclusive hardware reports, which are widely distributed around the press but not authorised for publication.

If the machine does reach that number in June, it will mean that 3DS has taken three months longer than its predecessor the DS.

There is of course a hefty price difference to note between the two machines – the average selling price of a 3DS during its first ten weeks is 202, whereas DS was selling for just 98.

Even now, after Nintendo’s price cut, the 3DS still costs 140.

However, MCV’s figures suggest that Nintendo’s machine may struggle to reach the barrier as soon as June, owing to the increasingly stagnant UK games market.

Total global 3DS sales stood at 17.13m as of the end of March. Nintendo expects unit sales of 18.5m in the current fiscal year.

Sony, by contrast, forecasts 10m Vita unit sales in FY2013. Lifetime sales of its new handheld stand at only 1.8m.

UK Vita sales have just passed the 100,000 unit mark after ten weeks on the market. Worryingly, that’s less than a third of the number PSP shifted in the same time period, although PSP did enjoy a particularly strong start in the UK.