I am basing this number off of the DS's tendency to drop 56% in the week following Christmas. Making the assumption the 3DS will do the same, that puts it roughly 15.07M.
With the Wii previously holding the record, lets compare it to the 3DS.
Wii hit this number November 24th 2007. To compare, it took the Wii:
North America - 53 weeks,
Europe - 49 weeks
Japan - 50 weeks
3DS hits this number January 1st 2012, it took the 3DS:
North America - 40 Weeks
Europe - 40 Weeks
Japan - 44 Weeks
Average these out (even though I am aware the locations are not equal: 50.5 weeks for the Wii, and 41.5 for the 3DS, making it roughly 9 weeks ahead of the Wii in sales to the 15 million mark.
Quite an accomplishment, and these numbers REALLY do serve well to silence the critics who have been overly loud with negativity about how the 3DS will perform.
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
