Ahmed Sherif
Research expert covering IT services and gaming hardware
Nintendo - statistics & facts
Nintendo is a multinational consumer electronics and software company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in September 1889 as a small Japanese firm producing handmade playing cards, Nintendo has evolved into one of the largest video game manufacturing companies. Operating as a single business segment, Nintendo’s operations offer a diverse array of products such as video game platforms, mobile, and playing cards. Most of Nintendo’s revenue is generated through sales of video game platforms.
Nintendo’s home consoles
Nintendo released its first series of home consoles in 1977 as the Color TV-Game. In 1983, the company released the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), a console that has recorded close to 62 million lifetime sales globally. This was followed by the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Nintendo 64 (N64), and Nintendo GameCube, respectively. In 2006, Nintendo released the Wii, the popular home console with motion control features, with its successor, the Wii U, released in 2012. Nintendo’s latest home console, the Nintendo Switch, was first released in 2017 and has sold over 128 million units throughout its lifetime.Nintendo’s handheld consoles
Nintendo released its first handheld console in 1989 with the original Game Boy, a device that was followed by additional iterations such as the Game Boy Color and the Game Boy Advance. In 2004, the company released the Nintendo DS, achieving over 150 million lifetime sales. Popular game titles on the DS include New Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart DS. Nintendo then released the 3DS in 2011, a device that enables the user to view the screen in 3D without the need for special glasses. The Nintendo Switch Lite, a more affordable version of the Nintendo Switch, was released by the company in 2019.Console competitors
Since its release in 2017, the Nintendo Switch has consistently been one of the best-selling current-generation consoles globally each year up until 2022. This includes notably more lifetime and annual sales compared to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, which were both released in 2020. Three of the top-five best-selling consoles of all time are Nintendo products: the Nintendo DS, the Switch, and the Game Boy. The PlayStation 2 is the top-selling video game console of all time, at almost 160 million units. Other major competitors include Microsoft’s Xbox console family, with the Xbox 360 ranking at the ninth best-selling console of all time.
