Nintendo have their work cut out for them with the upcoming NX- we’ve all known that for a while, and we don’t necessarily need someone to tell it to us. But you don’t understand the extent of Nintendo’s current plight until you see their hardware sales numbers in America laid bare in their glory. Video game analyst at Niko Partners Daniel Ahmad has done just that, and the takeaway is stark. It is then that you realize- Nintendo have been bleeding hardware sales and market share for a very long time now.
In fact, barring the aberration that were the DS and Wii, their handhelds and home consoles have both been in a state of steady decline, with each new generation selling less than the previous one. Even this generation, the Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo’s bright spot, and the highest selling system of the cycle (higher selling than even the PS4, with 60 million units sold worldwide), has sold less than half of the DS, and well below previous Nintendo handhelds.
These numbers make you realize- Nintendo need to stem the bleeding, and fast. The NX is supposed to be their comeback after the Wii U, and there is a general hope that the machine, which acts as a successor to Wii U and 3DS both, will end up selling well. And that will involve it reversing a steady trend of progressively lower sales.
Happily for Nintendo, they may be able to do that- even with the 3DS, though the handheld has not managed to recreate the glory days of Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, or Nintendo DS, Nintendo managed to generate some demand for the system when Pokemon GO launched for smartphones in July, when it ended up as the highest selling system in America according to NPD. This shows us that there is a demand for Nintendo hardware on the market, and that people will buy it- Nintendo just has to make it an appealing prospect.
You can check out their handheld and home console sales for yourself below:
CONSOLES
- 34.00m – NES
- 23.35m – SNES
- 20.63m – N64
- 12.93m – GCN
- 48.64m – Wii
- 6.29m – Wii U
HANDHELDS
- 44.06m -GB/C
- 41.64m -GBA/SP
- 59.93m -NDS Family
- 20.11m -3DS Family