
Nintendo's unit sales of video game consoles 1997-2021
Nintendo console sales - additional information
Japanese multinational company Nintendo is a name well known all around the world thanks to their long history of producing a range of high quality video game consoles. Despite being one of the largest video game companies in the world, Nintendo’s net revenue has steadily decreased in recent years, registering a low of around 4.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2016. The sales of both handheld software and hardware accounted for a little less than half of Nintendo’s revenue in 2016, while home console hardware and software generated over a third of the company’s revenue.
Over the last decade, Nintendo’s home consoles sales was focused on five different products – Nintendo 64, GameCube, Wii, Wii U, and the new Nintendo Switch. The Nintendo 64 dominated the market in the late 90s and early 2000, while the GameCube became popular in 2002. The Wii is Nintendo’s best selling console; despite the release of its successor. About 26 million units of the Wii were sold in 2009, the highest number to date. Overall, Nintendo sold about 100 million units worldwide since 2007. Wii sports, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Sports Resort are among the best selling Nintendo Wii titles worldwide.
Nintendo's newest home console is the Nintendo switch, which was released worldwide on March 3, 2017. The Switch sold around 2.74 million units in its first month, making it Nintendo's fastest selling home console and exceeding initial projections. The Switch is mainly a home console, but also has the ability to be used on the go through an LCD touchscreen. This has led Nintendo to consider the Switch a "hybrid" console.
Nintendo’s best-selling handheld gaming product is the Nintendo DS. Sales of the Nintendo DS peaked in 2009, when the company sold over 30 million units worldwide. Since then, sales of Nintendo DS have been declining. The top selling Nintendo DS titles worldwide are Super Mario Bros, Nintendogs, Mariokart DS and Brain Age. The company has also enjoyed a great deal of success with the GameBoy, Nintendo DS predecessor, and the Nintendo 3DS over the years.