Published on07/25/05
Click to enlarge via Tech JapanBandai has raked up Tamagotchi Plus sales of more than 10 million by the end of this month. It looks like the popularity of this quaint little toy haven’t quite died out yet. The figure is the combined sales total from the “They’re Back! Tamagotchi Plus” and “Yuwai Keitai Kaitsu-! Tamagotchi Plus” series, released in March 2004 and November 2004 respectively last year.
More than half of the sales were not local, and this is rather surprising. Last May saw the introduction of the English versions of Tamagotchi Plus throughout 44 countries across Europe and Asia. Bandai claims that the device’s popularity boiled down to the usage of its infrared communication function. A recent survey of 500 elementary school children showed that communication games and gifts exchange were the top drawers.
The original Tamagotchi phenomenon started in November 1996, and sold over 40 million units worldwide. Pirates jumped on the bandwagon by starting their own counterfeit “Tamagotchis”. The initial boom led to overstocking of the product that forced some negative pressure on Bandai’s management. It looked like the election of a Chief Tamagotchi Officer brought an about turn – both development and sales strategies were unified under the same banner, which led to the successful Tamagotchi Plus.