Nintendo is one of the most widely recognized brands in the developed world, now etched into the childhood memories of multiple generations. It’s also one of the more interesting companies in the world, with a long (and diverse) history, wild swings in revenue, and an odd collection of assets.
Below are five numbers that tell part of the Nintendo story.
126: Years in Existence
Nintendo is generally viewed as a relatively new company, but it was founded when Grover Cleveland was president. Nintendo started in 1889 in Kyoto, Japan when Fusajiro Yamauchi began manufacturing playing cards for the recently-legalized game of hanufada. That means that Nintendo has been in operation longer than Nordstrom (1901), JC Penney (1902), and Ford (1903), and even preceded the Dow Jones Industrial Average (1896).
Image Source: BeforeMario.com
Over the years, the company has dabbled in a number of other businesses — some of which are included in the company’s official history and some of which are conveniently overlooked. Those that the company proudly recognizes include the Ultra Hand, Laser Clay Shooting System, Love Tester, and a response to the Rubik’s Cube called Ten Billion — among many others.
Often excluded from the official history is Nintendo’s experiments operating a chain of love hotels, instant rice, and even taxi cabs.
Below is a brief summary of significant events up to the 1985 introduction of the NES:
685,000,000: Hardware Units Sold
Nintendo has sold nearly 700 million gaming systems in its history, led by 154 million units of the Nintendo DS. The following chart shows lifetime hardware sales by system, starting with the original Nintendo (which launched in late 1985) through the Wii U (November 2012 launch).
Data Source: Nintendo. As of June 30, 2015.
After its first few products became huge hits, Nintendo struggled for many years to deliver another breakthrough success; the Nintendo 64 and Game Cube combined to sell fewer units than the original NES. The Nintendo DS (launched before Christmas 2004) and Wii (launched in time for Christmas 2006) gave the company a much-needed boost that resulted in the company’s best years from a financial perspective.
Since those launches, however, Nintendo has found itself again in a prolonged slump; interest in the 3DS and Wii U has been minimal. The totals for software sales (i.e., games) follows a generally similar distribution; the DS and Wii lead the way:
Data Source: Nintendo. As of June 30, 2015.
The following table shows the ratio of software-to-hardware sales for each system:
Data Source: Nintendo. As of June 30, 2015.
23,960,000: Copies of Nintendogs Sold
The following chart shows the top three best-selling games for Nintendo’s most popular systems, as well as the more recent Wii U and 3DS:
Data Source: Nintendo, various other sales reports.
There are several interesting facts that jump out from this visual:
- Only one game has outsold the original Super Mario Bros.: Wii Sports (note that these figures include copies distributed with the purchase of a game system);
- Pokémon has been another huge hit for Nintendo, selling hundreds of millions of copies across all versions systems;
- Something called Nintendogs has sold nearly 24 million copies, putting it ahead of Super Nintendo hits Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, and Mario Kart. (The total includes the Dachshund & Friends, Lab & Friends, and Chihuahua & Friends versions of the game.)
6: Years of Consecutive Sales Declines
Not surprisingly, Nintendo’s financial results have correlated with the success of the systems highlighted above. The company’s revenue surged with the release of the Wii, but has trailed off in recent years as the product drought has gone on:
Data Source: Nintendo. 2009 and 2015 Revenues equate to $18.8 billion and $4.6 billion, respectively.
In U.S. dollar terms, the company’s revenue has declined from a high of $18.8 billion in 2009 to just $4.6 billion in 2015.
1: Professional Baseball Team Owned
Nintendo is one of the longest-tenured owners of a Major League Baseball franchise; only the principal owners of the White Sox, Phillies, Twins, Rockies, Tigers, and Giants already held their teams when the company purchased the Seattle Mariners in 1992.
Forbes now estimates the value of the Mariners at $1.1 billion, an 11x increase over the purchase price of $100 million. The value of Nintendo’s 55 percent stake in the team represents about 2 percent of the total market cap.
This article, By the Numbers: 5 Surprising Stats About Nintendo, first appeared on Dividend Reference.