Nintendo sells 19 million 3DS units worldwide

There's been a lot of talk surrounding Nintendo these days suggesting that they should give up their handheld system efforts and flee with their valuable IP to the App Store to make a quick killing. However, according to Nintendo'squarterly earningsrelease, it sounds like they're doing quite alright.

According to the filings, Nintendo has now sold 19 million 3DS handhelds worldwide since the Japanese launch in late February 2011. That's not record pace, but it's not too shabby for just 18 months. Even if it retains this pace (it will not) that pace would still Fall short of the original DS's 152 million sales over seven years. That said, the DS was an obscenely successful handheld, one of the most successful gaming products of all-time. So comparisons aren't too helpful.

In the same report, Nintendo also posted a $220 million net loss for the quarter. While that might sound horrifying, it's probably not as bad as it sounds. Preparations for the launch of the 3DS XL, as well as the Wii U are both things that could drastically hit their bottom line for this time period. It doesn't indicate long-term struggles for Nintendo.

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Besides, from what we hear, Nintendo has some insanely huge cash reserves left over from the Wii boom-times. They can afford a few bad quarters.

Andrew is a freelance video game journalist, writing for sites like Wired and GamesRadar. Andrew has also written a book called EMPIRES OF EVE: A History of the Great Wars of EVE Online.