DS already has 1 ten-million selling title in Nintendogs. With combined Diamond/Pearl sales, and New Super Mario Bros., it has 2 more titles which will pass the mark this year.
But what's blowing my mind is the Western performance of Brain Training 1, and what could happen if Brain Training 2 were released in the West (I haven't even heard that this will be happening, but know of no reason why it wouldn't.)
Brain Training 1 has shipped over 2 million units to "others" regions, and is still frequently the #1 DS game on the UK charts. It has sold nearly 1.5 million units in NA, and charted in the top 20 in its 11th month, Febuary, with 70K sold, making over 2 million sales in NA seem likely too. Total WW shipments are over 7 million, and they may well reach 8 million.
Brain Training 2, however, is far outperforming 1 in Japan. Its 1.5 million units ahead of BT1 through the same number of weeks, nearly 1 million ahead overall, for a total of nearly 4.4 million units. It has a good shot of reaching 5 million this year in Japan.
What if the second game is released in the West, and similarly outperforms the first game? With a growing DS install base, and the time required to establish such a radical new brand, could BT2 do 5 million copies in the West? Or is there an oversaturation of other Brain titles already out, which would leave it dead in the water?
Most importantly, why haven't we heard anything about BT2 for the West yet, when it came out well over a year ago in Japan?
"[Our former customers] are unable to find software which they WANT to play."
"The way to solve this problem lies in how to communicate what kind of games [they CAN play]."
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo President. Only slightly paraphrased.
