Nintendo may have seen its
first slide in net profits in over half a dozen years recently, but that's not to say all is depressed in the Mushroom Kingdom. To the contrary, in fact. The outfit's CEO has the troops fired up and
aimed squarely at Apple, and its little-handheld-that-could has just surpassed its
earlier-handheld-that-could to become the best selling portable gaming machine in history. While belting out numbers during the latest quarterly earnings report, Nintendo confessed that the
DS family (DS, DS Lite, DSi and
XL) had sold around 129 million units, and at last check, the
Game Boy crew had peaked at around 118 million. We're hearing that Sony's world-beating PlayStation 2 still leads the way when looking at all gaming devices at 140 million, but with that
3DS hitting in the near future, we might just see a new all-around champion crowned in the numbers game.
posted May 7th 2010 9:44PM
@brian515
I guess you missed the 3DS memo...
@mukatuna I guess you missed this:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/07/nintendo-ceo-battle-with-sony-is-over-apple-is-the-enemy-of-t/
@brian515
Yeah and that should go for Sony too! I mean, they need something new to fend off Chrysler.
Wait, what?
@mukatuna
How the hell can you compare a device that cost about 4 times as much.
3DS doesn't count as part of DS family, it's a whole new line of system(s)
I bought my first DS two months ago and since then I've updated to the 'fantastic' DS XL.
Currently on Lego Indiana Jones and its one heck of a lot of fun. Great machine, great features like blowing next to the mic to inflate a raft and the stylus is an added bonus.
Thanks Nintenod.
P.s. I actually buy the games instead of using an R4 card.
@Excalibur Nintenod?
Proud owner if the DSi!
@WillSmith Please tell me YOUR THE REAL WILL SMITH?!
@Inspector Gadget80 "your" or "you are = you're" ?
I will be getting my 3DS when ever it comes to the STATES!!
@Inspector Gadget80
you have quite the wait ahead of you, i'm afraid. unless of course you use your go-go-gadget time machine...
NINTENDO FTW
Meh, not impressed.
The DS is for kids' games.
No matter how popular it is, I have no interest.
Let me know when I can play Dead Space 2 on a portable system.
@Johnny Rockets
Sorry, Johnny... but i must disagree with you on this one. I'm 19... and I love my DSi. Couldn't care less that Nintendo's games are on the "brighter" side... I'm in it for the fun. and last I checked that's the whole purpose of video games, no?
@Johnny Rockets
Your attitude comes across me as douche bag like... am I crazy?
@skyblaze
That's fine. We have different taste in games.
If your DSi plays games on the 'brighter' side, I have no problems saying I prefer games on the 'darker' side. 8-)
@Drybones5
No need to bash.
Congrats Big N!!!
This does not surprise me at all. I know so many people with these, my mom wants one! Very cool device, this and a psp and im set! Even people in my hood have these... You know a device sells when you find people in a nyc hood loving these devices. Congrats to you Nintendo, you made a lot of my childhood memories
In terms of surpassing the PS2, I'm not sure It would really be fair to count the 3DS' units. I mean, isn't really an entirely new system?
It would be like combining every generation of iPod sales together with eachother.
@Armdnrdy
They're likely to surpass it promptly either way. Nintendo's been hitting 20+ million DS units each year like clockwork. This last year was actually a record for them, moving a smidge under 30 million. Meanwhile the PS2 moved
Shoot, if you're going to count the iPhone, then count the Nokia 1100 with SNAKE. Sold over 200 million since '03. Seriously, iPhone/iPod touch aren't bought for the games, so much as they're bought for multimedia, and some additions, which some are casual gaming.
@SDreamer Dream on. Games are the largest category of apps, drive most revenue, include content from Indy and major studios and Nintendo call them put as their only competitor. Idevices may be at the casual end but it is still gaming (just not hardcore). At the end of this year there will be >120M idevices sold and many more will be active than DS units creating a truly massive market.
bullsh*t.
I dont think its fair to consider the 3DS as part of the DS family. If your wanting to do so then you need to add the PS1, PS2, and PS3 to the Playstation 2 numbers. The problem with Nintendo is they're not really releasing full hardware updates (except maybe the 3DS, well see) They're just releasing small updates. After about the 2nd or 3rd time they need to stop. How many DS' are there now? Original DS, DS Lite, DSi, DS XL... stop it Nintendo. Release a new system already. Keep backward compatibility if you want but stop making small changes to your old systems and cranking up the price.
The "Release fifteen variations of the same product and then people who love useless minigames purchase it droves" marketing plan seems to be working.
Sent from my iPhone
@poorkid:
Sounds like the iPhone
@Jordan Exactly. Irony my friend, irony.
i dont know why they put ps2 as competing device when clearly its the piece of shit portable (PSP) that should be up there.
You guys are missing the point, Nintendo should be worried about Apple (and other smart phones). Nintendo has been holding on to the past. It's difficult to get ahead in the new age of technology sticking to one thing. Nintendo needs to find a merging niche. Devices are beginning to converge. It was only a matter of time. You still can't playback a DVD on a Nintendo product. Think about it: Cell phone cameras are approaching the quality of the snap shooters. DSLrs are now shooting 1080p video better (with a few drawbacks) than stand alone professional cameras. Now we're seeing these smartphones becoming more powerful than standalone gaming devices. More people use phones than standalone gaming devices. But if you tell someone they can play games on their phone, then they may be more inclined to try one out. If someone makes the killer title it's all over. Imagine getting in a game of death match while waiting for the dentist. Especially now with the app store, they don't even have move any further than pulling their phone out of their pocket to give you money for your game. It's instant gratification. They have GPU's in em for christs sake! I remember freakin' snake on my old school nokia.
The iPhone was the first real successful convergent device. Other smart phones have followed suit but Apple has cut out a mold and building a market around it, all of their products do it. Don't you see that if Apple puts more iPhones in the hands of people then the phone itself becomes a gaming market. The device already supports 3rd party devices since OS 3.0. So someone just needs to make a controller if they REALLY NEED buttons. and did you just miss that the game center is a major part of the OS 4 upgrade. It's freakin' x-box live on your phone! They add video chat in then who cares about a freakin Nintendo.
As for games, major companies are already making games for the iPhone. Yeah there are a lot of cool simple games (and bad ones) available from indie developers, but what keeps the majors like EA, and Squaresoft from making a game and advertising it on TV right along side there other platform versions. If Nintendo was smart they would just start making iPhone games and get in on the marketshare, and become a leader and pioneer in making A+ titles for the App store. Keep their exclusives for themselves, make a couple cross titles that have Wii or DS compatibility, and keep making these games to keep people interested in their flagship products. It would probably get their games in the hands of the older demographic as well, at least as far as DS games go. Wii on the other hand is a different story.
I hope nintendo does this right, because I dont think they're going to make their own smartphone, or a device compelling enough to change the face of gaming in the time it takes Apple to have an iDevice in the hands of millions of more people. I love nintendo, they made me love electronics, just don't want to see them miss the boat. They barely made it with Wii as it is, thank god they jumped on board.
@aperture01:
Nintendo barely made it with the Wii? Have you seen any sales numbers? The Wii is crushing the competition. I agree, the graphics suck and developers never gave it the games it really needs (can you imagine that controller with a good, intense FPS...I've been waiting for one since day one), but the fact is there that the Wii saved Nintendo. They didn't barely make it, they killed.
Nintendo does not want to develop for the App store and leave their exclusives to their own hardware. If they start putting their games on the iCrap, they will make much much less than they would have selling it for their own hardware. Games on the App Store need to be priced at a few bucks at most, otherwise they won't sell next to the other games that are being sold for $1. What Apple has done is gone in and said games should be cheap, virtually screwing the developers of those games out of money they would have made on other platforms. Good, intense, compelling games cost A LOT to make. Profits from crappy games are used to make the good games. If these profits aren't coming in, say goodbye to good gaming as you know it.
Plus, by only having a few games on their hardware, who is going to buy their hardware? I'm not going to buy a system for a few games.
No, what Nintendo needs to do is exactly what it is doing. The Wii was the buffer. It got them back on the good side of developers and it bought them time. Had Nintendo released a system comparable in power to the PS3/360, they would have lost out again and Nintendo would be gone. But by having a console at 1/3rd the cost of the competition, Nintendo was able to reclaim their name as the name associated with gaming.
We are not going to see a PS4/xbox 720 anytime soon. These two companies realized the first time around that releasing such a supped up expensive console does not work. To date, Sony has LOST money on every console sold because it costs more to produce than they can sell it for. This is bad business. Nintendo on the other hand has made money on every console sold since release day. This is smart business.
Nintendo is to gaming as Apple is to mobile devices. They are the ones who push and pioneer new ideas and technology. Apple is not a gaming company and the iPhone/pod is not designed for gaming. Nintendo knows what they are doing. While Sony and Microsoft are still fighting Nintendo, Nintendo is past them and defending themselves from new threats. As long as Nintendo can continue pioneering video games, Apple has nothing on them.
@Jordan
I have to agree with you on a few points. But I still think Nintendo needs to be worried. Their operating on an outdated business model.
A couple of points:
1. My argument isn't so much directed at the Wii as it is the DS's growing market. When I say "barely made it" I mean, if there was no Wii we would not be having this conversation right now. Yes they've sold more than all other consoles, and that's awesome, I knew it would kill when I saw the controller. But things were looking pretty grim for Nintendo. And I had a N64 and a Gamecube. I can tell you they were not great systems by any means. They had some good titles, but hardly games that were as compelling as what was on PS/PS2 as the time. Which is why they got spanked then. When the Wii was released the control novelty saved them. It's what put Wii on the map. It was truly a game changer. Right now however the market is about to surpass them. With Playstation and even more so Microsoft with the Natal, the Wii is even starting to look dated. Now i'm not selling they won't sell more Wii's and it won't remain popular but age is going to start to show and the 360 and PS3 still have a lot more steam in them, Nintendo is going to have to do some major upgrades to their console to keep people interested. That means selling ANOTHER console to people. How are they going to do that all over again now that the novelty has worn off. Not saying it can't be done, but it's going to be tough.
2. App Development. Yes I agree that compelling games take lots of money to develop, but has Nintendo truly been developing games of this Magnitude? The whole selling point of the Wii, and even more so the DS is the simplicity of the games. So in saying that it's not Apple who said games need to be Cheap, it was Nintendo. They're just getting screwed over from their own business model. Apple devs can sell cheap games just like Nintendo, except Apple's hardware is capable of much more. Look at freakin Wii Sports, I'm sure it didn't cost Millions to produce that game. Some of the other major releases recently have more depth on the Wii, but most DS titles are simple games that do not cost tons to make. The price of a high priced DS game is about $35. The average ones are almost $19. You can't tell me that this price is not inflated. Nintendo has to make a profit. Part of the cost of that game goes into cartridge manufacturing, packaging, selling it to the distributor (target, walmart), shipping, and in the case of a third party title money for the developer. The App Store model bypasses all of that old school nonsense. It goes from the developer straight to the App store. Apple get's 20 percent and you get the rest. Seems quite simple. Why even bother selling it through the "console" model. Just sell it straight to the people. It's the same thing that iTunes did to music with Music. We're just now starting to see it with Applications, and other forms of media. I'm waiting for the day we start seeing iDevice games advertised on TV. You'll hear "Available on DS, iPhone, iPad, and Android". I don't have to go to the store to get it on iPhone, I just hit the App Store while i'm walking down the street, and it's mine.
A lot of the indie games on the App store are .99 cents to about $3 dollars. But some of the A+ titles are about $10-$20. If it's an iPad game you could probably ask for $30-40 if it was compelling enough. Wii games are similarly priced. It's Xbox and PS3 games that are 60-70 dollars. Some of the biggest selling games in the App Store last year were A+ titles that were priced as such. The Sims, Need For Speed, Metal Gear, these are all Major Developers making games. Nintendo could leverage it's name in the arena by selling simple games on the App store. And advertising them stronger than any indie developer could. Gaming handhelds are for kids and I think with the advanced in cell phone technology, one day the phones are going to have all the capabilities of the portable gaming devices, oh wait... that's now... :) why buy your kid that when you can give them a phone? Cause they are going to ask for one. Because we know that all kids love cell phones, and they are becoming ubiquitous in our culture.
3. Platforms. Nintendo makes money when it sells it OWN titles on its OWN platform. Other developers surely have to pay licensing fees to make games for Wii or DS. iDevice is a platform. It's a platform with very low buy in point. You pay for the SDK and you can release a game. No crazy licenses or anything like that to worry about. App Store policies but that's another thing altogether. I'm sure Nintendo could afford the $99 a year to get involved with the store. The point here is that Nintendo's hardware is becoming irrelevant. They did it to themselves. What seemed like a good idea is now just a cheap piece of electronics. It's cheap... and it only does ONE THING, play low budget video games. This is a problem that is going to just get worse as the convergence of technology continues to occur. Apple could twist the knife even more. What keeps apple from turning the Apple TV into a simple gaming console? A slight revision, and I'm sure they could throw some app store integration, sell some bluetooth controllers and charge you $299 or less. People will buy it cause it has more functionality than a Wii as well as all the pros. Simple. Easy Games, immediately downloaded right off the net. No crazy hardware, but it can do way more than the Wii can, and it's a name people identify with immediately. I'm sorry, i'm not trusting Nintendo to make a media player, or other device. They just don't have the skills for it. Apple doesn't have to be in the gaming business, they're in the hardware/software business. That's all they've ever done. They create devices that merge the two so well. No other manufacturer has the expertise in that arena. The App store, and the encompassing nature of their devices makes it easy for the developers to be in the gaming business, and market their products directly to the consumer. Apple provides the platform, Devs build the structure.
Nintendo's problem is that their only business is gaming, so unless they have an ace up their sleeve and are ready to "pioneer" some snazzy hardware, new method of game distribution, new controller method, or a must have game, then they better find a way to make that Wii last because by the end of the year it's going to be looking pretty sad. PS and Xbox (especially xbox) have some pretty amazing technologies that are going to make the Wii look like Child's play. Those devices are already positioned to be multifunctioning. I guess if they want to tick to the younger market, and become the Fisher Price of gaming, they may have something, but they're going to have to spread their wings and try to integrate themselves into the daily lives of their customers, and be needed- not just a novelty.
In the end... seriously I love Nintendo, I even subscribed to Nintendo power and had the first issue with SMB2 on the cover. The SNES was by far my favorite console of all time. It was amazing. I've owned all of their consoles except the Wii, and the DS although I've played each considerably. I love the company, I just think they're beginning to outlast their business model. Look at their history they once sold playing cards, then everyone started to, and they changed, it's starting to look like they may have to do this again... they have to adapt to survive.
Nintendo and Apple have one thing in common, once you buy one of their products within a good few months it will be outdated.
@JustThatNerdyGuy:
No, Apple hardware is outdated before you buy it. With Nintendo you at least have some time.
Well that's what happens when you put out four fucking versions of the thing. You didn't sell it to 130 million people, you sold 130 units. It's ridiculous how many people have bought two or three versions of this thing, or even worse, repurchased it for a different color scheme.
Props to Nintendo, but that number is so terribly inflated.
@kenny goo:
You mean just like iPhone sales numbers. They combine all generations of iPhone into one large sum. I highly doubt sales of the first iPhone really matter any more, and even sales numbers of the 3G is starting to push it.
While you suckers are arguing it out, I will enjoy the amazing games available across the DS, PSP, iPhone and iPad - I own all four, and all four have their strengths and weaknesses.
@Dale P: Smartest comment I've read in forever.
That's not really fair... Nintendo are trying to beat Sony's PS2 with 5 devices...
I've actually never played the nintendo ds.
The iPhone has casual video games in the app store. Nintendo has casual games via DSiWare. Nintendo has hardcore games on DS carts. iPhone has hardcore games that last longer than an hour to beat?
I love the dsi excellent gaming console!