New consoles are fun right? Let's see what happened during all major console launches of the past 26 years.
This will be a short blog in the text department, just a somewhat quick look at how the software charts looked like when consoles launched, starting with the Super Famicom in 1990 all the way until the Xbox One in 2014 (3DO, Neo Geo and PC-FX not included). Would love to put them in text form, but Blogger won't allow that, so images will have to do, sorry about that, though remember, all the data here can be seen on the webpage.
So, let's begin with one of the best consoles ever, the Super Famicom, released on November 21, 1990.
Prior to 1996 Famitsu didn't report actual sales data, what they did was get data from a certain ammount of retailers and do something with that number to get their weird point system, that's what was published on their magazines until 1996. Due to this we don't really have sales data for the launch of the Super Famicom just a table with their point system, and not even data for all games as they didn't gave points for all 30 games until 1993, though it's better than nothing right?
We don't have much data for hardware either, supposedly some 300.000 consoles were sold during launch day (presumably all with Super Mario World), Nintendo didn't report shipments until FY1998 so we don't really have official data. In the end 17.17m consoles were sold in Japan making it by far the most succesful console of it's generation. The best selling launch title, Super Mario World sold 3.55m units in the end, it wasn't the best selling title of the console though, that title belongs to Super Mario Kart.
We're moving 4 years into the future, with two console launches back to back, late 1994 saw the Saturn fight against the PlayStation.
Sadly this top 30 is incomplete, though we have data for what it matters, Saturn games.
Sega beat Sony to the punch for a few days, with a system made for Japan in mind and with the most popular arcade game of the time, Virtua Fighter as an exclusive, the system saw a succesful launch, a reported 170.000 units were sold at launch, with 500.000 units shipped by the end of 1994, for the first few months the Saturn was ahead of the PlayStation.
This didn't last forever though as the system rapidly declined as the PlayStation just picked up steam, by 1998 the system was purposedly killed by Sega to make way for the Dreamcast.
Selling 5.9m units it's Sega's most succesful console in Japan, the much anticipated Virtua Fighter 2 end up becoming the system's best selling title.
As mentioned before, the PlayStation launched mere days after the Saturn, and it performed below it for the first few months, some 100.000 units were shipped from the start and 300.000 by the end of 1994.
The PlayStation just kept rising and rising it sales as it kept getting all the big releases of the time and by the end of 1997 nearly 10m units had been sold. In the end all models combined sold 18.85m units, an incredible success for Sony's machine as it became the second all time best selling console for some time.
The biggest launch game, Ridge Racer, ended up selling some 850k units, becoming the best selling title of the series, though the system's biggest game woudn't arrive until 2000, Dragon Quest VII became the best selling game on the console with an, at the time, record 4.14m units sold.
We move from a success story to one of failure, with the Virtual Boy in 1995.
There's not much to say about the Virtual Boy, it was a flop and that was it really. Not much on hardware either, we just know that 140.000 units were shipped to Japan, but we can't say that even half of them were actually sold.
As for software sales, well, just look at the table up there, that's everything we have on Virtual Boy sales, not a single game charted on any other week.
The 90's were a rough time for Nintendo as we move over to the Nintendo 64, in 1996.
The Nintendo 64 wasn't exactly a failure, but it wasn't a wild success like the Super Famicom and by the time it launched the system was recieved with little fanfare, I think the biggest reason for the system's performance was the release date, it came out 18 months after the other systems, by the time it launched th Saturn had sold over 2.2m units (quite posibly 3m as the 2.2m figure is for early 1996 but it's the closest we have) with the PlayStation around the same level, both consoles already had robust libraries and big games to come, N64 was too little to late.
160k units were sold on it's launch week and it ended up selling 5.54m units, Nintendo's worst selling console at the time with a huge drop of marketshare, from +70% with the Super Famicom to less than 20% with the N64.
Super Mario 64, which was sold at nearly 1:1 with the system during the early months, sold 1.92m units in the end being the system's third best selling game behind Super Smash Bros, and Mario Kart 64.
Next on 1998, there were two launches here as SNK throws in the Neo Geo Pocket to compete with the Game Boy (a mere week after the Game Boy Color was released) and Sega releases it's final console, the Dreamcast.
There's nothing to say about the NGP, so onto the Dreamcast!
The date 9.9.99 is one many Dreamcast fans must be familiar with, as that was the North American launch of the console, but Japan got it a little early as Dreamcast launch there on November 27, 1998, 27.11.98 doesn't quite roll off the toungue.
It wasn't the best title to launch, as the Nintendo 64 was having it's biggest holiday with the new Ocarina of Time and exclusive Pokémon games, which were the biggest things in the word at the time, the PlayStation was not slowing down either, not only were consoles selling at a high rate due to the strong games released prior, but also for the future, as Final Fantasy VIII would release mere months later.
The system couldn't get the same spark as the Saturn got, some 100.000 units were sold during launch week but sales dropped quickly as the system was already selling less than 10.000 units a week a couple of months after launch, the looming PlayStation 2 didn't made things any easier for the system and even big games and price cuts couldn't save it, overseas sales couldn't make up for sluggish japanese sales as with the Mega Drive which gave the system an early death, discontinued in less than 3 years. It had a strong following though, as Dreamcast games were still released as late as 2006.
Reportedly 2.8m units were sold in Japan, but is likely that figure includes the rest of Asian markets as Famitsu has it just below 2m, the system's best selling game, depending on the source, was Sonic Adventure or Seaman.
Just a few months after the Dreamcast, Bandai released the first handheld that could be considered a threat to Nintendo's dominance in the market, the WonderSwan.
The WonderSwan was released in early 1999 and was a mild success, while, as mentioned before, it was the first handheld that could be a thread for the Game Boy it never really got close, some 3.5m units were sold among all models, with 100.000 being sold on launch week.
The best thing the system had going for it was support from Square who had abandoned Nintendo's hardware years prior, but it wasn't enough.
We move from a short lived system to the system with the longest life and the best selling console ever, 2000 and the PlayStation 2.
The PlayStation 2 was a success story right out of the game with 630k units sold in a mere two days, the biggest ever launch, demmand for the system was so high that caused week long shortages as Sony just couldn't ship units to store shelves fast enough, in fact, during the 2000 holidays the shortages were so severe that the original PlayStation actually outsold it for a couple of weeks.
It's the all time best selling console in Japan with 21.98m units sold through it's 12 year lifespan, the best selling title of it's incredibly robust library was Dragon Quest VIII with 3.75m units sold.
Moving to 2001, quite a busy year for Nintendo as the Game Boy finally has a successor and the struggling Nintendo 64 gets a more struggling successor.
March saw the release of the Game Boy Advance, the system was met with open arms as 611k units were sold during launch week, a total of 16.96m units were sold in the end, about half of what the original Game Boy line did but the GBA only had half of it's linespan and about half of its support as well (not even factoring the DS).
The Pokémon fever continued on the GBA, but it somewhat calmed down, as Ruby and Sapphire sold 5.4m units, nearly half of what the first game did, though still gigantic numbers and by far the system's best selling game.
The GameCube launch September of that year to even more dire circumstances than the Nintendo 64; just like it's predecesor it launched to late, over 18 months after the PlayStation 2. It sold 133k units on it's opening week, by then the PlayStation 2 had already sold an outstanding 5 million units, it wasn't like the N64 were two competing consoles were still fighting. For the GameCube the battle was lost before it even began, the system sold 4.04m units, even less than the Nintendo 64.
There was no really point on doing it, but in early 2002 Microsoft unleashed the Xbox in Japan.
As mentioned before, the PlayStation 2 had already taken over the industry and there was nothing it's competitors could do to even modestly slow it down, nonetheless Xbox hit store shelves in Japan on February 2002, selling 123k units on it's opening week.
The Xbox sank rapidly in sales and was already selling below 10k mere weeks after release, having little software of Japanese interest there was nothing Microsoft could do to make the machine popular, less than half a million units were sold in Japan, the system's best selling title is Dead or Alive 3.
Moving onto 2004, where similarly to 1994, two big hardware launches were looming, it was Nintendo vs Sony as both the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable were released during winter.
The Nintendo DS was originally met with a lot of skeptisism, people didn't know what to make of it at the start, originally meant as a third pilar, which is live alongside the Game Boy portable line and the consoles it ended up outaking the Game Boy line to become Nintendo's main handheld, not only that but it became more successful than another Game Boy could ever hope to be.
The Nintendo DS took over Japan by storm, selling some 468k units during it launch week it got to 3.77m just a year later and a whoopping 12.5m just a year after that. When all was said and done the Nintendo DS line sold 32.99m units, becoming Nintendo's best selling system and Japan's best selling dedicated gaming device ever; a record it's unlikely to ever lose. Software sales are equally as impressive as 4 of the 10 best selling games ever are DS games, with New Super Mario Bros. as the biggest of them all with 6.49m units sold.
A week later Sony released their very first handheld, the PlayStation Portable, by then Sony had been the dominant force of the console market for 10 years and now wanted a piece of the handheld pie dominated by Nintendo.
The system had a rather modest start with 166k units sold during it's first week, as the Nintendo DS skyrocketed in sales the PSP was in the sidelines waiting for noteworthy content to release, and it did, Monster Hunter became a phenomenon on the PSP, over 12m Monster Hunter games were sold on the system and made it the the prime system during 2010.
In the end 19.69m units were sold, making it Sony's second best selling device in Japan, while over a dozen million units behind the DS, the PSP managed to outsell every SKU of it's competitor, all Nintendo DS SKUs sold 33m, but none sold more than the PSP.
Just one year later and less than 4 years than it's predecesor Microsoft released their next generation console in Japan, the Xbox 360.
The Xbox didn't caused much of a splash in Japan and the system was practially dead over a year before it's successor hit the scene, despite that and it's poor sales the Xbox 360 saw release in Japan during the 2005 holiday, with poor results.
62k units were sold during it's first week, less than half of what the original did, the system picked up however and sold some 1.61m units in the end, which is a respectable ammount, Microsoft can at least say the console had a crazy attach rate, with some 9 games per unit.
2006 saw Nintendo vs Sony again, with nearly polar oposite devices as both the PlayStation 3 and Wii saw release that year.
A weak launch line up and high price did the PlayStation 3 no favors, it had the lowest launch sales of any PlayStation system to date with 88k units sold, the system couldn't replicate the shortages made by it's predecesor and was even outsold by it during early 2007. However a cheaper model, robust line up and near brand reboot caused the PS3 to recover some time later, the system actually saw it's peak of hardware sales in 2009 and of software sales in 2011.
In the end 10.4m units have been sold so far, a far cry of all it's predecesors but still an impressive ammount after its disastrous first few months, the system's best selling game is Final Fantasy XIII.
Wii felt like the complete opposite of the PS3, a huge success, with 371k units sold on it's launch week it became Nintendo's biggest console launch in 16 years, like the DS before it; the unique system took Japan and the world by storm, it managed to outsell it's predecesor in less a little more than a year and sold more than it's two predecesors combined.
However when Wii lost steam it did it really hard, the system was even outpacing the PlayStation and PlayStation 2, though in the end it came very short of matching, let alone outselling, either of them, there were 12.75m units sold in Japan, the system's best selling game is New Super Mario Bros. Wii with 4.63m units sold, it's the second best selling console game in Japan.
From here we take a very long break unti 2011 when the Nintendo DS succesor finally arrived, it was in 3D this time and the called it the Nintendo 3DS.
Given the massive success of it's predecesor the launch of the 3DS was underwhelming, while it sold a good 374k units during it's launch week, a weak game line up and high price made sales drop rather quickly, though a significant price drop and a very healthy holiday (not many consoles sell 1.4m during a four week period) made a quick and swift recover, the 3DS became the biggest system during it's generation, 21.63m had been sold by June 30th, 2016, the system will outsell the PlayStation 2 to become the third best selling dedicated gaming device in Japan.
The PlayStation Vita is a very interesting system, going into release it seemed like a very interesting proposal, it was a powerful machine sold at a very competitive price, however seeing as it's launch game was a Hot Shots Golf title also available on PS3 there wasn't much reason to get it at the time, there was a big promise though.
Nintendo saw the thread and did managed to kill any momentum the system could've possibly had right before it's release as three huge 3DS exclusives saw release mere weeks before the Vita came out, one of this being a Monster Hunter title, the series that made the PSP huge.
324k units were sold during launch, an impressive first week, however sales were sluggish from then on and a year later it had barely sold 1m units, with nearly 5.2m units sold at the time of this writing.
The next generation consoles finally arrived as Nintendo replaces the Wii by making another console and attaching an U at the end.
Similar to the Vita, at the start things looked just fine for the Wii U, 308k consoles were sold during launch week, a very good number, though similar to the Vita sales dropped quickly after than, however, for the Wii U sales dropped much quicker and much harder.
1.2m units were sold a year later, after aggresive holiday bundles, however sales weren't picking up and a year later less than a million additional units had been sold, despite the system getting bigger releases.
With 3.21m units sold as of June 30th, 2016 it is by far Nintendo's worst performing console to date, in both hardware and software. A surprising hit, Splatoon is the system's best selling game.
For the last two systems, we jumped to 2014 as the Japan console bussiness looses it's relevance and Sony and Microsoft take their sweet time to release their new systems.
The PlayStation 4 hit store shelves in Japan during February 2014, unlike its some of predecesor which were released in Japan months before their international release this time the PS4 saw release locally nearly 4 months later.
It had a bigger launch than the Wii U without the holiday to help, as 322k units were sold at launch week, things seem promising enough at the time but sales started to dwindle afterwards, not much software to get attention.
There's not much to say about the PlayStation 4 now as we're right before what could be the system's biggest holiday, so it can't be called a success nor failure yet.
It's sold close to 3.2m units so far.
We end this restrospective with the biggest story of failure so far, the Xbox One.
While the Xbox 360 did decent on the region, major changes to the console landscape by 2014 made the Xbox One release rather pointless, many argued that the system wouldn't do anything in the region as consoles were becoming irrelevant and the Xbox brand was never very popular in Japan to begin with, and guess what, they were right.
The system launched by selling 23k units and it's only sold 68k, a mere month after release sales were already below 1.000 units per week and during 2016 they already were below 50 units per week. There's barely any software sales to go buy.
A rather pessimistic way to end things, but hey, that's how it is.
Well, this was quite the piece, took a long time to put together, but it was fun, hopefully you had fun reading it.
Sources:
https://sites.google.com/site/gamedatalibrary/hardware-by-platform
https://sites.google.com/site/gamedatalibrary/hardware-totals
https://sites.google.com/site/gamedatalibrary/list-of-million-sellers
https://segaretro.org/History_of_the_Sega_Saturn/Release
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/
http://geimin.net/
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario