[新闻] DS超越GBA，WII超越N64

意思是NDS全球总销量超越GBA，WII全球总销量超越N64
Prior to the release of Wii & DS, the sales order of Nintendo systems went: Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, NES, SNES, N64, GC. It now goes: GB, DS, GBA, NES, SNES, Wii, N64, GC.


Nintendo’s New Sales Order: DS tops GBA, Wii tops N64



Jacob Mazel



Wii Tops N64 Sales



As of the week ending October 5, 2008 the hierarchy of Nintendo’s most influential machines, in terms of sales, changed significantly. The symbols of ‘new’ Nintendo DS & Wii passed the sales of preceding machines – further reversing the trend of Nintendo platforms selling less in each successive generation. At sell through of 32.935m the Wii has topped the lifetime shipments of Nintendo 64, which Nintendo puts at 32.93m. The breakdown in reaching those figures is quite different:



Breakdown
Wii
Weeks
Weekly Avg.

Japan *
6,863,398
97
70,756

Americas *
14,497,275
97
149,456

Others *
11,575,231
96
120,575

Total (to date)*
32,935,904
  
  




Breakdown
N64 Total Shipments
Years

Japan **
5,540,000
96'-01'

Americas **
20,630,000
96'-01'

Others **
6,750,000
97'-01'

Worldwide
32,930,000
  






* sellthrough
**shipments



In 22 months, Wii sell through has topped Nintendo 64 shipment totals from June 1996 to March 2001 a period which accounts for 98% of Nintendo 64 shipments worldwide. With sell through lagging behind shipments to videogame stores worldwide, Wii is likely closer to 34m-36m shipped at the moment. Nintendo’s next shipment report which will contain updated figures, for the three months ending September 30, 2008, is due out October 30.



Since Wii has topped N64 shipments of 57 months in 22 months, some simple math implies Wii should easily be at 85m in 57 months. Given that Wii is tracking ahead of DS, a platform which will hit 100m shipped in less than 4 years 6 months (54 months), 85m should not be a problem for Wii. There are further figures to back this up – Nintendo expects to have shipped over 50m Wiis by March 2009, and ~80m should be feasible less than a year after. Even if Wii peaks in 2009, 100m looks feasible by the end of 2010.



DS Tops GBA Sales     



DS recently topped GBA sales as well. Nintendo had shipped 81,240,000 GBAs through June 2008 and 77.5m DS portables through June 2008. As of October 5, 2008, Nintendo has sold 81,750,000 DS portables. The breakdown for DS sales vs. GBA sales is quite different in terms of regional contribution to the totals:



Sell through
GBA
DS

Japan
16,702,053
23,819,710

Americas
41,468,804
25,872,655

Others
21,382,313
32,058,368

Totals
79,553,170
81,750,733




The amazing sales of the GBA in the Americas are largely offset by huge DS sales in Japan and Others. For whatever reason, the Americas accounted for over 50% of GBA sales, with Japan at about 20%. With DS, ‘Others’ has nearly 40% but no one region is dominant. The main difference between the platforms is that like NES, DS has had waves of regional success. DS was an absolute force in Japan for 2006 and 2007, selling to over 5% of the Japanese population in each year. However, a lot of this is because PSP started off strongest in the USA, then grew in Europe, and since late 2007 has gotten stronger in Japan.



DS follows the opposite pattern – it was a smash in Japan, then in Europe, with the Americas now catching up as PSP slows down a bit. Still, Japan remains the top DS region on a population to hardware sold basis. Comparable success in the USA would be the equivalent of selling 15m in a year. At ‘only’ 25.87m, DS is still owned by less than 10% of people in the Americas. Contrast that to Japan where literally nine in fifty people own the portable. It’s tough to knock the DS though, as it has an outside shot to become the only platform in gaming history to ship 40m units in all three regions. At the very least, it should reach 30m in all three regions – a feat only the original Game Boy accomplished. Nintendo expects DS to top 100m units shipped in March 2009, which would put it over a year ahead of the time it took PS2 to reach the figure (Sony shipped 100m PS2s in five years nine months).