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Nintendo console sales: From Wii U to NES

Attach rates are interesting here.

NES: 8.08
SNES: 7.72
N64: 6.83
GC: 9.59 (!)
Wii: 8.86
Wii U: 5.23


GB/GBC: 4.22 (Rather low. Reduced by people buying multiple systems for the family but sharing the same games?)
GBA: 4.63
DS: 6.13
3DS: 3.76

That Gamecube attach rate was ridiculous. Do we have any figures for Playstations, Xboxes and Sega systems through the years?


Edit: Poop, beaten to the same maths.

Not sure about other systems but I do know that the PS2 sold over 1.5 billion games and had an attach rate over 10.
 

Some Nobody

Junior Member
Famicom
Japan - 19.35 million
America - 34.00 million
PAL - 8.56 million

Super Famicom
Japan - 17.17 million
America - 23.35 million
PAL - 8.58 million

N64
Japan - 5.54 million
America - 20.63 million

PAL - 6.75

GameCube
Japan - 4.04 million
America - 12.94 million
PAL - 4.77 million

The industry has been growing, but SNES got hurt by Sega Genesis stealing marketshare, primarily in America.

N64 got smashed by NCL's decision to give the middle finger to third parties and go with carts. NOA managed to salvage an SNES-level victory by appealing to Western developers.

Iwata was tasked by Yamauchi to win back Japanese third parties with the GameCube (Iwata was the head of planning before he became President), and he failed at that, but in the process he cut NOA's balls off and handed the American market over to Xbox. Right around the time that the American market was set to explode.

YIKES. That drop-off in Japan is terrifying. I always knew N64 made a mistake when they went with carts over CDs, but I never knew it was so drastic. No wonder the perception is that Nintendo didn't do so bad with the N64. They didn't...in America. The drop-off here is actually not too terrible. But those JP numbers...
 

monome

Member
Clearly I was referencing 3rd parties.

Wii happened. WiiU timing/strategy was bad.

Nintendo was never willing to support 3rd parties strategy that consists of building pillars on the foundation console manufacturers provide.

Once a hardware maker relies on a few 3rd party franchises selling 20M units, they lose control. and are forced into the same >100M$ dev budgets.

Iwata briefed its partners Nintendo wanted a strong and healthy but mid-range portfolio of games from them.

Clearly 3rd parties chose the Hollywood path and concentrated on a few but highly profitable franchises.
 

EulaCapra

Member
3DS software rate is really sad compared to prior systems.

Also released today was this PDF, showing all Nintendo hardware sales since 1997: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/library/historical_data/pdf/number_of_titles_e1403.pdf
I'm not sure how long 3DS will stick around, but the number of its North American game releases (272) will soon pass N64's (297) and maybe squeak by Gamecube's (552)?

And apparently 50 Wii U games came out in North America in the last fiscal year. eShop? Long-ass post-launch drought discredits numbers otherwise.
 
Famicom
Japan - 19.35 million
America - 34.00 million
PAL - 8.56 million

Super Famicom
Japan - 17.17 million
America - 23.35 million
PAL - 8.58 million

N64
Japan - 5.54 million
America - 20.63 million
PAL - 6.75

GameCube
Japan - 4.04 million
America - 12.94 million
PAL - 4.77 million

The industry has been growing, but SNES got hurt by Sega Genesis stealing marketshare, primarily in America.

N64 got smashed by NCL's decision to give the middle finger to third parties and go with carts. NOA managed to salvage an SNES-level victory by appealing to Western developers.

Iwata was tasked by Yamauchi to win back Japanese third parties with the GameCube (Iwata was the head of planning before he became President), and he failed at that, but in the process he cut NOA's balls off and handed the American market over to Xbox. Right around the time that the American market was set to explode.

Forget carts, Nintendo had been treating third parties like shit for years prior to the N64 and third parties had had enough of it. They were ready and willing to jump ship, so Sony swooped in and gave it to them.
 

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
Iwata was tasked by Yamauchi to win back Japanese third parties with the GameCube (Iwata was the head of planning before he became President), and he failed at that
To give him a bit of credit, Nintendo reputation with third parties at the time was in the pits. The fact that SE, Namco, Capcom etc actually work with Nintendo now is a miracle. Though of course the problem is the whole Japanese industry is in a slum so the parties Nintendo really wants to be dealing with are in the West and we all know how their partnership with those turned out.
 

ocean

Banned
A little surprised at the gen-on-gen drop off demonstrated by these numbers. It would seem that the Wii was an outlier drastically out of tune with the overall trend of Nintendo's home console performance.

It's sad to see this. I loved the SNES and the N64 was the best birthday gift I've ever had. I didn't have a Gamecube, but my neighbor did and we spent countless hours on it; it had an amazing library. I did have a Wii (like everyone else I guess), and got plenty of games for it.

I don't know, I just never thought Nintendo has been going downhill throughout the last 20 years despite offering some of the most memorable gaming experiences on the market.
 

MauroNL

Member
I really thought the N64 sold way more then 33 million, don't know why but 33 million just seems so little compared to other consoles from that era.
 

Wildean

Member
As its their second-biggest hardware seller, I wonder if they're ever tempted to use the GameBoy brand again - like how Sony dusted-off "Walkman" for portable media players. Nostalgia can be a very powerful marketing tool, when evoked the right way.
 
WiiU to break records at the end of its lifetime.

Is it going to break the GameCube's record for being Nintendo's worst selling hardware?

Edit:

H78fowJ.png


That record is still held by the Virtual Boy...
 

freefornow

Gold Member
I feel that the WiiU will not surpass the Gamecube for total sales.
At least the glorious Gamecube will then no longer hold the title of poorest selling Nintendo console.
I think Gamecube deserves that small victory!!!
 

Celine

Member
3DS still rocking that poor attach rate. Less than four games per unit? Madness.
No offense Smokey, but it isn't out of ordinary for an handheld to have low tie ratio (around 4).
For example:
PSP: 4.3

Tie ratio usually increase more the platform age.

That said 3DS software sales are disappointing.
 

lefantome

Member
I've gone ahead and calculated the attach rates for comparison (sorry if someone else already posted while I was doing the math)

NES: 8.08
SNES: 7.72
N64: 6.83
GCN: 9.59
Wii: 8.86
Wii U: 5.23

GB/C: 4.22
GBA: 4.63
DS: 6.13
3DS: 3.76

Well Nintendo counts packed in games as "software sales" so the attach rate is artificially higher
 

SmokyDave

Member
No offense Smokey, but it isn't out of ordinary for an handheld to have low tie ratio (around 4).
For example:
PSP: 4.3
That says it all though, doesn't it? The PSP was infested with piracy and faced unprecedented competition from the DS, and yet still has a higher attach rate. It also sold more software overall if I'm not mistaken.

Tie ratio usually increase more the platform age.

That said 3DS software sales are disappointing.
That is true though, the tie ratio will increase as time goes on.

Regardless, I'm not suggesting that the story of the 3DS begins and ends with the attach rate, I just find it odd that a system with such a widely lauded library sells so little software to its owners.
 

Steroyd

Member
Wow never knew that outside of the Wii Nintendo was having a gen on gen decline with WiiU currently being the natural order of things.
 

Some Nobody

Junior Member
That says it all though, doesn't it? The PSP was infested with piracy and faced unprecedented competition from the DS, and yet still has a higher attach rate. It also sold more software overall if I'm not mistaken.


That is true though, the tie ratio will increase as time goes on.

Regardless, I'm not suggesting that the story of the 3DS begins and ends with the attach rate, I just find it odd that a system with such a widely lauded library sells so little software to its owners.

The DS dealt with a shitton of piracy too, though.
 
This is pretty interesting. Looking at the numbers from the oldest generation to the current, Nintendo's hardware and software sales are steadily declining, with the Wii/DS generation being an outlier.
 

SmokyDave

Member

AniHawk

Member
That says it all though, doesn't it? The PSP was infested with piracy and faced unprecedented competition from the DS, and yet still has a higher attach rate. It also sold more software overall if I'm not mistaken.

people exaggerated the problems the psp faced as though they were its own, maybe to downplay how relatively bad it was doing? or maybe how bad it was doing compared to their expectations of a console-lite handheld. like the gba didn't have its own piracy problems, or that the ds didn't either. the psp was a successful handheld caught in the shadow of one of the best-selling systems ever.
 
It did, and yet it still sold a metric shit-ton of software.


Sorry, my post was poorly worded. I meant that the PSP sold more software than the 3DS. I'm aware the DS was a software monster, second only to the PS2 iirc.

Actually it's bit behind PS1 too. PS1 sold little bit over 1 billion units of software.
 

Celine

Member
That says it all though, doesn't it? The PSP was infested with piracy and faced unprecedented competition from the DS, and yet still has a higher attach rate. It also sold more software overall if I'm not mistaken.


That is true though, the tie ratio will increase as time goes on.
PSP life cycle is over, same cannot be said for 3DS.
What I was trying to say was that an attach rate around 4 isn't uncommon because traditionally handhelds fared that way.

Again I'm not defending 3DS software sales which I consider disappointing.

Well Nintendo counts packed in games as "software sales" so the attach rate is artificially higher
Same is true for any manufacturer.
 

AniHawk

Member
In those five months though, it did manage to sell better than these two systems:

the virtual boy was more or less yamauchi shaming gunpei yokoi for not being able to deliver on a wonder-product that yamauchi himself wanted. i am probably remembering incorrectly, but yokoi was told to get the virtual boy under $200, so he removed all colors except for red. now maybe he did this just as a cost-cutting measure, or maybe he did it in a sort of passive-aggressive maneuver since the request was essentially impossible. yamauchi put yokoi next to the machine at either ces or e3 or tgs (some trade show) as though it was all his fault, and i think it was before the system was out.
 
Oh crap, I just realised. While I do have 37 3DS games, we have FOUR 3DS in the house (brother, sister and I have one, plus I bought a 2DS). Also, both my brother and I upgraded our old 3DS to an XL. That's Six console sales.
 

MrT-Tar

Member
Nintendo consoles PAL sales

NES: 8.56m
SNES: 8.58m
N64: 6.75m
GCN: 4.77m
Wii: 39.85m
Wii U (so far): 1.56m

I guess that helps explain why NoE suddenly became a lot better in terms of quantity of localisations in the 7th gen; comparatively speaking, they probably seemed like they were flush with cash.

I hope it doesn't suffer too much this gen, I want DQVII (S-E can't be trusted), Project Zero 5, FE x SMT, etc.
 

Celine

Member
the virtual boy was more or less yamauchi shaming gunpei yokoi for not being able to deliver on a wonder-product that yamauchi himself wanted. i am probably remembering incorrectly, but yokoi was told to get the virtual boy under $200, so he removed all colors except for red. now maybe he did this just as a cost-cutting measure, or maybe he did it in a sort of passive-aggressive maneuver since the request was essentially impossible. yamauchi put yokoi next to the machine at either ces or e3 or tgs (some trade show) as though it was all his fault, and i think it was before the system was out.
System creator put next to the system he designed (supervisioned) at a trade show.
Unprecedent!
 
I guess that helps explain why NoE suddenly became a lot better in terms of quantity of localisations in the 7th gen; comparatively speaking, they probably seemed like they were flush with cash.

I hope it doesn't suffer too much this gen, I want DQVII (S-E can't be trusted), Project Zero 5, FE x SMT, etc.

All them Wii sales and we didn't get Kirby Dream Collection.
 

Into

Member
Famicom
PAL - 8.56 million

Super Famicom
PAL - 8.58 million

N64
PAL - 6.75

GameCube
PAL - 4.77 million


The classic Nintendo brand, meaning the classic franchises including Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Donkey Kong and the list goes on, was never near as big here as it was in the States and Japan. What got big was motion gaming

As for their forecast, hey at least they are realistic now, whereas before it was just laughable and made them look like a dodgy company.
 

AniHawk

Member
System creator put next to the system he designed (supervisioned) at a trade show.
Unprecedent!

well i don't know, but was genyo takeda or any other high level hardware engineer placed next to their creations in years prior? it seemed like yokoi was so high level that he wouldn't be given that sort of responsibility. even when miyamoto and other guys from ead come for e3, they aren't standing next to their games and explaining it like they're michel ancel (which was awesome oh my god).
 

Celine

Member
well i don't know, but was genyo takeda or any other high level hardware engineer placed next to their creations in years prior? it seemed like yokoi was so high level that he wouldn't be given that sort of responsibility. even when miyamoto and other guys from ead come for e3, they aren't standing next to their games and explaining it like they're michel ancel (which was awesome oh my god).
There is no evidence Yokoi was badly treated by Nintendo because of VB failure and I'm saying this because I'm well aware of the amount bullshit that did spread subsequently Yokoi death.
Yokoi attended CES/E3 1995 to show his new piece of hardware as the lead of the project and "father of the Game Boy" had to do.

Now if you really want to see a Nintendo rappresentative explaining VB (and doing the usual PR duty) at a trade show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYsKcb8Tg98
 

D.Lo

Member
Oh wow.

I think it highlights a major advantage Playstation has over its competition its how its popular WW. NA, EU, and Asia.
The advantage was Sony's distribution network.

Nintendo's first console distributed by themselves in Europe/Australia was the N64 - it can be seen as their first proper EU product because their previous consoles were distributed by other companies.

Sony already had their Walkman/TV distribution worldwide, so could launch in Europe (and other regions) straight away quite easily.

Forget carts, Nintendo had been treating third parties like shit for years prior to the N64 and third parties had had enough of it. They were ready and willing to jump ship, so Sony swooped in and gave it to them.
People say this, and it was true in the US and for one Japanese dev (Square). But not really. CDs were the superior format for no other reason than Japanese developers fell in love with FMV. Sega also got far more japanese 3rd party support on the Saturn (Capcom, Konami etc), and that was after the Mega CD/32X mismanagement and the Saturn launch disasters.
 

RiggyRob

Member
Nintendo consoles PAL sales

NES: 8.56m
SNES: 8.58m
N64: 6.75m
GCN: 4.77m
Wii: 39.85m
Wii U (so far): 1.56m

This makes a lot of sense concerning Pandora's Tower, The Last Story, Xenoblade Chronicles and Disaster: Day of Crisis.

Still, Nintendo's negative image in the UK has never been rectified.
 
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