Animal Crossing: New Leaf Flying Off Shelves; Download Version Over 200k

Last week, a Japanese retailer reported that Nintendo shipped 500,000 copies of Animal Crossing: New Leaf to Japanese stores in its launch week. Now, we have updated figures straight from Nintendo themselves.

Today, Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata, revealed via the official Animal Crossing Twitter in Japan that Nintendo shipped 600,000 copies of the game to stores in its first week. Despite the large shipment, it appears there may be shortages as Iwata says Nintendo will ship another 200,000 copies of the game this week and asks fans to be patient until they reach stores.

Additionally, Iwata also revealed that the game’s download cards, which are available at stores and allow players to buy a download code for the game, have sold out, too. And finally, the most interesting detail—Animal Crossing: New Leaf has been purchased digitally over 200,000 times.

(Note that it isn’t clear whether the 200,000 figure includes download card sales or refers only to purchases made directly off the Nintendo eShop.)

Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a first for Nintendo in that they promoted the downloadable version of the game via a TV commercial. By doing so, Nintendo hope to expose more people to the Nintendo eShop.