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Nintendo Crosses 700 Million Units of Hardware Sold

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Per Nintendo's newest financial report, they have now achieved a total of 727.65 million units in hardware sales through the time they have been selling games and hardware in the games industry- the breakdown for this is 300.54 million units for home consoles (this was the milestone achieved in the previous fiscal report), and 427.11 million units for handhelds- as expected, Nintendo's handhelds have been their true winners through the years.

As for the breakdown, here it is:

Nintendo Home Console Sales (all numbers in millions)
  • NES — 61.91
  • SNES — 49.10
  • N64 — 32.93
  • GameCube — 21.74
  • Wii — 101.63
  • Wii U — 13.56
  • Switch — 19.67
Total: 300.54 million

Nintendo Handheld Sales (all numbers in millions)
  • Game Boy — 118.69 (includes Color)
  • Game Boy Advance — 81.51
  • DS — 154.02
  • 3DS — 72.89
Total: 427.11 million

SOURCE

Some other statistics:
  • Highest selling Nintendo hardware: Nintendo DS- 154.02 million (21.16%)
  • Lowest selling Nintendo hardware: Wii U- 13.56 million (1.86%)
  • Nintendo system with best attach rate: GameCube- 9.5
  • On average, Nintendo has sold 20.7 million units of hardware every year since 1983
This list does not include Virtual Boy, NES Classic, and SNES Classic.
 
SageShinigami

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What stands out to me here is just how much of a monster the GB, DS, and Wii are. Also, without the Wii, Nintendo's handhelds have outsold their consoles over two to one. That's insane, and says to me the Switch is the right path forward.
 
SnowFlakeCake

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No wonder Nintendo didn't bother with a home console this generation, they are extremely strong with handhelds and have followed that route. Smart choice for sure.
 

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I know it's caused from bias based on my region (NA) and my age but my brain will never comprehend the NES being so much lower in sales than some other Nintendo systems. It was in like a third of homes here (according to books) and it seemed much more of a phenomenon than the 3DS.
 
Terraforce

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Wow, props to Nintendo of course, but if anything this just highlights how crazy Sony's pace has been with their HW. They had 6 consoles versus Nintendo's 11 (nearly double) and the difference is only ~200M? Now that's wild.

EDIT: OP doesn't include the Virtual Boy, and idk if Nintendo made anything else, but that would technically be more than double the console difference. Astonishing once put into perspective.
 

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I thought they already reached those long ago? Kinda of strange.
Either way, I also think that it's strange that the headline on the article only talks about the numbers on home-consoles while they talk about handhelds too. Just a minor grip tho

Aquamarine said:
Still beating Sony by 202.35 million units...I wonder if that will ever change.
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Sony is more consistent than Nintendo in home consoles and they use the same brand and model for consoles too so it depends on how the Switch will sell and how the successor will be as well to see if there's going to be a change or proximity. Microsoft is totally out of it, obviously.
 
OP
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Yeah, this is the full comparison for those who want it:
  • Nintendo: 727.67 million
  • Sony: 525.3 million
  • Microsoft: 143 million (estimated)
  • Sega: 72.75 million
  • Atari: 33 million
 
AppleKid

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Phantom Thief said:
GameCube — 21.74
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This is the figure that has always confuses me the most. Certainly not my favorite system, but it had a solid launch line-up, strong third party support most of its life, and a pretty competitive price-point despite not supporting DVD playback.

...maybe these positives are just a matter of opinion though? I understand the factors surrounding every other decline in console sales on this list, just not the GameCube's
 
KtotheRoc

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I imagine the Virtual Boy won't add that much to the total, but the NES Classic and SNES Classic should add a little bit.
 
OP
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KtotheRoc said:
I imagine the Virtual Boy won't add that much to the total, but the NES Classic and SNES Classic should add a little bit.
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NES Classic, SNES Classic, and Virtual Boy put together add less than 10 million to the total

AppleKid said:
This is the figure that has always confuses me the most. Certainly not my favorite system, but it had a solid launch line-up, strong third party support most of its life, and a pretty competitive price-point despite not supporting DVD playback.

...maybe these positives are just a matter of opinion though? I understand the factors surrounding every other decline in console sales on this list, just not the GameCube's
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Bad marketing, bad timing, bad messaging and branding, plus the PS2.
 
Strings

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AppleKid said:
This is the figure that has always confuses me the most. Certainly not my favorite system, but it had a solid launch line-up, strong third party support most of its life, and a pretty competitive price-point despite not supporting DVD playback.

...maybe these positives are just a matter of opinion though? I understand the factors surrounding every other decline in console sales on this list, just not the GameCube's
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It went up against the PS2 though... Like, yeah. That thing was just a fucking monster.

You can add together Gamecube and Xbox sales, triple them, and then the PS2 would still win.
 

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AppleKid said:
This is the figure that has always confuses me the most. Certainly not my favorite system, but it had a solid launch line-up, strong third party support most of its life, and a pretty competitive price-point despite not supporting DVD playback.

...maybe these positives are just a matter of opinion though? I understand the factors surrounding every other decline in console sales on this list, just not the GameCube's
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Click to shrink...

This all shows in the fact that it has the best attach rate
 
PK_Wonder

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Next financial update (which will include July, Aug, and Sept), the Switch will have passed the GameCube. Talk about some great results, but I will always feel so bad for the legacy of the little cube that could with its stellar library.
 
OP
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Brikky Freeman said:
Haven't the NES SNES and N64 amounted to 110 million?

Can't see Sony ever catching up without a successful handheld either.
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NES, SNES, and N64 together amount to 135 million units roughly. That said, N64 should be excluded from this comparison, since it did go face to face with PS1.

ZeoVGM said:
lol @ totally leaving out the Virtual Boy
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Mostly because it doesn't actually add that much to the total.
 
Skittzo

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Yeah in general I feel like the NA perspective kinda feels strange when you look at those numbers. I feel like the NES, and N64 especially were ubiquitous. It felt like everyone I knew had an N64.

Excited about the race to 1 billion, it'll be interesting to see who gets there first.
 
Plankton2

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So Average Home Console sales per device (excluding the switch) is 46.8M for a yearly average (from 83-17) of 8.26M

And average Handheld sales per device is 106.78M for a yearly average (from 89-18) of 14.73M

Handheld is definitely the strength
 
potatohead

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WiiU surprises with just how little it sold but at the same time it's not surprising at all.

Maybe they really knew it was going to be a stopgap before their Switch plans anyway. That's kind of the feeling I get sometimes.

But I wonder when they realized that, when WiiU was known to be selling poorly or maybe when they realized how powerful mobile hardware has gotten or what.
Plankton2 said:
So Average Home Console sales per device (excluding the switch) is 46.8M for a yearly average (from 83-17) of 8.26M

And average Handheld sales per device is 106.78M for a yearly average (from 89-18) of 14.73M

Handheld is definitely the strength
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Yep definitely.

It's like two thirds of their sales.
 
John Omaha

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skittzo0413 said:
Yeah in general I feel like the NA perspective kinda feels strange when you look at those numbers. I feel like the NES, and N64 especially were ubiquitous. It felt like everyone I knew had an N64.

Excited about the race to 1 billion, it'll be interesting to see who gets there first.
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If you're Canadian it makes sense - the N64 actually outsold the PS1 over here.
 
Sebastopa

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And with the Switch moving things forward, it is very likely that Wii U situations will not repeat again, Nintendo will probably continue being the record holder for the foreseeable future, despite Sony's gargantuan success with the PS brand.
 

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Wait a second, I didn't think Switch was that close to 20 million. How the hell did people doubt it'll get to 20 million by end of the year?
 
Sandfox

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Aquamarine said:
Still beating Sony by 202.35 million units...I wonder if that will ever change.
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Consoles may not even be a thing anymore by that point.

Eorl said:
Wait a second, I didn't think Switch was that close to 20 million. How the hell did people doubt it'll get to 20 million by end of the year?
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People are doubting 20 million in a year, not 20 total. Though there were people who thought the Switch would never sell 20 million.
 
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