Nintendo Ending DS Production, Handheld Could Outsell PS2 by 2014

Even the most popular consoles eventually lose steam over time. Nintendo’s original DS, which blew people away in Japan and North America when it launch back in 2004, may finally see its production halted if Nintendo’s latest fiscal results are to be believed. The company is planning to sell 10 million DS software units during the current business year ending March 31, 2014, but when it comes to hardware, there are no current public projections.

That’s likely because after almost a decade, the DS has tapped out. At this time, 153 million units of this revolutionary device have been sold, which makes it just two million shy of the PlayStation 2’s current record. It’s Nintendo’s best-selling piece of hardware, and although it isn’t exactly flying off the shelves at this time, there’s a strong chance that the DS will take over as the big cheese in overall console sales before long.

Software numbers continue to impress. Since launch, 933 million units of DS software have been pushed, with standouts New Super Mario Bros. (30 million units) and Nintendogs (23.9 million units) leading the charge. If you ever happened to watch weekly sales charts before the release of the 3DS, these two games consistently floated around the top 10.

And yet, it’s time to pass the torch. Nintendo today revealed that the 3DS, during fiscal 2013, sold 31 million worldwide. The software lineup, too, has Nintendo employees believing that the device “is really going to take off" in 2013. Time will tell, but it really is an end of an era.