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Nintendo software and hardware sales data from 1983 to present

Nikodemos

Member
Hmm, I wasn't aware the GBA and SNES had such low tie-in ratios. GBA was basically a one-game machine for a lot of people (that game being most likely Pokemon), while the Snes struggled to touch 2:1, compared to its predecessor's comfortable 3:1 (which the N64 reproduced, weaker hardware sales notwithstanding). Despite the terribad sales, the WiiU has a pretty solid showing, with nearly 4:1 tie-in.
The 3DS seems to be performing pretty poorly in that respect, with nearly 60 million sold yet only just 130-something million software titles, yielding a tie-in ratio of just a bit over 2:1. Which again points to the device being little more than a Pokemon machine for many buyers.
 

MANUELF

Banned
Hmm, I wasn't aware the GBA and SNES had such low tie-in ratios. GBA was basically a one-game machine for a lot of people (that game being most likely Pokemon), while the Snes struggled to touch 2:1, compared to its predecessor's comfortable 3:1 (which the N64 reproduced, weaker hardware sales notwithstanding). Despite the terribad sales, the WiiU has a pretty solid showing, with nearly 4:1 tie-in.
The 3DS seems to be performing pretty poorly in that respect, with nearly 60 million sold yet only just 130-something million software titles, yielding a tie-in ratio of just a bit over 2:1. Which again points to the device being little more than a Pokemon machine for many buyers.

All the software numbers are Nintendo only so it doesnt take in count the 3rd party games
 

Nikodemos

Member
All the software numbers are Nintendo only so it doesnt take in count the 3rd party games
Ah, I see. That would improve the tie-in ratio for the first two and, conversely, worsen it for the N64, since a good deal of 3rd party pubs dumped them when the PS appeared. And it would definitely improve it for the GBA, since it had several 3rd party games (including a Max Payne, IIRC), though I'm not sure whether it will reach 2:1 (it sold a lot of hardware units).
That said, the situation doesn't really change for the 3DS, since 3rd party support for it is very small (compared to Nintendo's own). It still has rather poor tie-in ratio.
 

Celine

Member
Hmm, I wasn't aware the GBA and SNES had such low tie-in ratios. GBA was basically a one-game machine for a lot of people (that game being most likely Pokemon), while the Snes struggled to touch 2:1, compared to its predecessor's comfortable 3:1 (which the N64 reproduced, weaker hardware sales notwithstanding). Despite the terribad sales, the WiiU has a pretty solid showing, with nearly 4:1 tie-in.
The 3DS seems to be performing pretty poorly in that respect, with nearly 60 million sold yet only just 130-something million software titles, yielding a tie-in ratio of just a bit over 2:1. Which again points to the device being little more than a Pokemon machine for many buyers.
It isn't wise to compare the tie ratio from consoles and handhelds.
Traditionally handhelds always had lower tie ratio.

For example DS had a tie ratio (SW/HW) of 6.16 which is a record number for a handheld.
WiiU tie ratio is 6.57.
 
How are we going to get updates for older 3DS titles like Kid Icarus and Paper Mario?
Will a full sales list be published somewhere when the system is discontinued or something...?
Or do we just assume they only had very minor changes since their last official updates?
 

Celine

Member
How are we going to get updates for older 3DS titles like Kid Icarus and Paper Mario?
Will a full sales list be published somewhere when the system is discontinued or something...?
Or do we just assume they only had very minor changes since their last official updates?
Let's see what I can do in the future ...
 

Ryng_tolu

Banned
Fire Emblem Fates already outsold Awakening? :O

Yes, another interesting fact :)
Also FEF has yet to launch in Europe!

Well that's not really a fact.

We know Awakening was at 1.79 million by end of 2014, and i think is hard to believe Nintendo has shipped less than 60K since that...

More like: Fates has already sold more than what sold Awakening sold in 2 years.


Of course, even if is not happen yet, is just a matter of times, it will definitive outsell it next quarter thanks the Europe release.
 

Muzy72

Banned
Correct me if I'm wrong, but has Fire Emblem Fates outsold every Metroid game outside of the NES game and Metroid Prime?? And that's even before the European launch!
 
I wish these include 3Rd party titles, I am interested in knowing how much Bravely Default and Second sold.
Will Second has a chance to show up in NPD?
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but has Fire Emblem Fates outsold every Metroid game outside of the NES game and Metroid Prime?? And that's even before the European launch!
What a strange comparison. Speaking of which, Metroid is a strong series according to this data. It's pretty clear Nintendo drooped the ball with Other M.
 
What a strange comparison. Speaking of which, Metroid is a strong series according to this data. It's pretty clear Nintendo drooped the ball with Other M.

Metroid is a strong series, but not Nintendo strong. Compare Metroid to the 2D & 3D Marios, Mario Kart, Zelda, Pokemon, DK... these are the real heavy hitters.

The best seller in the Metroid series, Metroid (NES), has only sold ~2.7 million units. Sheesh, not even Metroid Prime surpassed that! And I wouldn't necessarily say that Nintendo dropped the ball with Other M, as the previous game, Prime 3 Corruption, barely passed the 1 million mark (and that's my favorite Metroid along Super!)
 

Celine

Member
The best seller in the Metroid series, Metroid (NES), has only sold ~2.7 million units. Sheesh, not even Metroid Prime surpassed that!
Metroid Prime (2.84M) outsold the first Metroid (2.73M).

I agree with you that Metroid isn't a priority , sale-wise, for Nintendo though.
 

TheMoon

Member
Well that's not really a fact.

We know Awakening was at 1.79 million by end of 2014, and i think is hard to believe Nintendo has shipped less than 60K since that...

More like: Fates has already sold more than what sold Awakening sold in 2 years.


Of course, even if is not happen yet, is just a matter of times, it will definitive outsell it next quarter thanks the Europe release.

Well, let uncle Kimi help us some with that :D
10l.jpg


That graph looks like about 500k for JP after 3 years and 800k for NA after 3 years w/o PAL sales.
 

Celine

Member
So I was reading Nintendo PR about 2DS price cut in America and saw Nintendo statement for its total software sales of 4.4 billion units so I thought that I've never calculated the ratio between first-party software and total software sold for the entirety of Nintendo business through the years (I've did just those ones for each single system).

1.628*100/4.411= 36.908

Basically, as March 2016, 37% * of the total games sold on any ** Nintendo systems was published by Nintendo.

* 1.628 billion units is an actually approximation of Nintendo total first-party sales because it's only the sum of every million seller they distributed (the games published by Nintendo which sold-in less than 1 million aren't counted).
** Virtual Boy software sales are excluded.
 

Ryng_tolu

Banned
Well, let uncle Kimi help us some with that :D
10l.jpg


That graph looks like about 500k for JP after 3 years and 800k for NA after 3 years w/o PAL sales.

First, keep in mind this graph is USA, NOT NORTH AMERICA.

Seriusly, those are NOT the same thing.


Anyway, the graph show Awakening at 850K in and Fates at 560K. (USA)
 

epicmartin7

Neo Member
Quick question. Do you have the source on where you got this information from? Like the URL at all? I kind of need it for a friend who's doing some research on the same topic.
 

Futurematic

Member
Quick question. Do you have the source on where you got this information from? Like the URL at all? I kind of need it for a friend who's doing some research on the same topic.

Nintendo published much of this data in their financial reports. The OP also mentions that you can PM them for details if needed.
 

TheMoon

Member
Nintendo published much of this data in their financial reports. The OP also mentions that you can PM them for details if needed.

There's also another organization that gets shipment data from publishers which requires a membership (sort of like NPD in the US in that way).
 
Can you give a more specific number? Less than 1 million can mean anywhere from 750k-999k.

Sorry, I can't.
We only know that Xenoblade X didn't make into the list of the million seller for the fiscal year.

I definitely doubt it's past 750,000.

Last I know it was past 225,000 copies February 2016. Considering sales were above 200,000 the first month it was obviously front-loaded. There price hasn't gone done except for a Best Buy sale at $50.

My guess is a little over 500,000 worldwide including digital. It's definitely a respectable amount considering the circumstances.

For instance both Mario Tennis Open and Amiibo Festival opened below 50,000 in the US and Star Fox Zero was only above 100,000. They also all saw A man discounts to below $40.
 

TI82

Banned
Xenoblade X seems to have sold very poorly for a game with such a long development time. I wonder how that will affect their next title?
 

MomoQca

Member
Sorry, I can't.
We only know that Xenoblade X didn't make into the list of the million seller for the fiscal year.

Bummer! At least we have the general number for this game unlike Xenoblade.

Xenoblade X seems to have sold very poorly for a game with such a long development time. I wonder how that will affect their next title?

RPGs typically have long development periods. And I disagree, it sold decently for a console-exclusive RPG on the Wii U. And according to this, Monolith Soft's profit increased from 1 billion yen to 2.7 billion yen from the last fiscal year.
 

TheMoon

Member
Xenoblade X seems to have sold very poorly for a game with such a long development time. I wonder how that will affect their next title?

It won't. They knew what they were doing/what they had with that. A huge chunk of that was R&D for modern HD dev anyway and future investments into engine work.
 
is there any update on tphd sales? I think they were really strong. TP HD is still on the wara wara plaza after all these months and very few games manages to stay this much.
 
Has there been any figures on Pikmin 3 or Bayo 2? With the Nintendo Selects version of Pikmin 3 and reprint of Bayo 2 curious where they are. I'm guessing we don't have details and assume they are both still under a million?
 

10k

Banned
I remember the SNES being a lot better than those sales numbers suggest. I was a kid back then though.

Awesome thread. Subscribed.
 
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