Official console sales data until March '96 by Sega Nintendo NEC Panasonic Sony

[EvilEvoIX]

I saw this thread over on the Sega forums and figured I share some of the sales data.  Very interesting as this was the transition between the 16-32 bit era.  You can see how fast the PS1 caught up to the Saturn in terms of sales as well.

Enjoy.

Quick and dirty copy&paste.

Thanks to Benjamin Stevens kindness we now have the Famitsu article with shipment data for FY '96 (source: Famitsu Magazine Issue # 392, Page .
This is a very important article since we now have close to definitive totals for systems like Game Gear, Mega CD and 3DO (at least for the Panasonic and Sanyo models).
It also shows the official standing between SNES and Mega Drive until March 1996 (when Sega discontinued most of its systems in Japan but the Saturn).
At a quick glance the data should be:

Code Select Expand

[B]Nintendo[/B]
                                 95(03) 96(03) (Diff)
Famicom (Japan)                  18.87m 18.95m (+0.08m)
Super Famicom (Japan)            14.47m 16.25m (+1.78m)
Game Boy (Japan)                 11.16m 12.16m (+1.00m)
Virtual Boy (Japan)                      0.14m (+0.14m)
NES (International)              42.55m 42.55m (+0.00m)
Super NES (International)        22.06m 26.05m (+3.99m)
Game Boy (International)         32.35m 35.50m (+3.15m)
Virtual Boy (International)              0.63m (+0.63m)

[B]Sega[/B]

Mega Drive (Japan)                3.55m  3.58m (+0.03m)
Game Gear (Japan)                 1.60m  1.78m (+0.18m)
Mega CD (Japan)                   0.40m  0.40m (+0.00m)
Saturn (Japan)                    0.84m  2.50m (+1.76m)
Genesis (International)          22.91m 24.96m (+1.95m)
Game Gear (International)         8.65m  8.84m (+0.19m)
Mega CD (International)           1.82m  1.84m (+0.02m)
Saturn (International)                   0.90m (+0.90m)

[B]NEC[/B]

PC Engine Duo (include CD Rom^2)  1.90m  1.92m (+0.02m)
PC-FX (Japan)                     0.10m  0.22m (+0.12m)

[B]Sony[/B]

PlayStation (Japan)               0.85m  2.46m (+1.61m)
PlayStation (International)              2.00m (+2.00m)

[B]Matsushita/Panasonic[/B] (Japanese shipment include Sanyo's 3DO)

3DO (Japan)                       0.47m  0.72m (+0.25m)
3DO (International)               0.30m  0.60m (+0.30m)


[B]Total shipment sales worldwide as March 1996:[/B]
NES: 61.50m (JP: 18.95m; INT: 42.55m)

Game Boy: 47.66m (JP: 12.16m; INT: 35.50m)
Game Gear: 10.62m (JP: 1.78m; INT: 8.84m)

SNES: 42.30m (JP: 16.25m; INT: 26.05m)
Mega Drive: 28.54m (JP: 3.58m; INT: 24.96m)

Mega CD: 2.24m (JP: 0.40m; INT: 1.84m)
PC Engine Duo (CDRom^2 included): 1.92m (JP: 1.92m; INT: -)

PlayStation: 4.46m (JP: 2.46m; INT: 2.00m)
Saturn: 3.40m (JP: 2.50m; INT: 0.90m)
3DO: 1.32m (JP: 0.72m; INT: 0.60m)
Virtual Boy: 0.77m (JP: 0.14m; INT: 0.63m)
PC-FX: 0.22m (JP: 0.22m; INT: -)


[B]Total shipment sales worldwide as March 1995:[/B]
NES: 61.42m (JP:18.87m; INT: 42.55m)

Game Boy: 43.51m (JP: 11.16m; INT: 32.35m)
Game Gear: 10.35m (JP: 1.60m; INT: 8.65m)

SNES: 36.52m (JP: 14.47m; INT: 22.06m)
Mega Drive: 26.46m (JP: 3.55m; INT: 22.91m)

Mega CD: 2.22m (JP: 0.40m; INT: 1.82m)
PC Engine Duo (CDRom^2 included): 1.90m (JP: 1.90m; INT: -)

PlayStation: 0.85m (JP: 0.85m; INT: -)
Saturn: 0.84m (JP: 0.84m; INT: -)
3DO: 0.77m (JP: 0.47m; INT: 0.30m)
PC-FX: 0.10m (JP: 0.10m; INT: -)



https://i.imgur.com/hXXa6DE.jpg

[spenoza]

I'm not sure I we can count on this data to include PC Engine units at all, since my understanding was that the PC Engine, overall, beat out the Mega Drive in Japan in total sales, and these numbers specify Duo and CD-ROM and are lower than the Mega Drive total for Japan.

[SamIAm]

That is correct. The global sales figure for the PCE including Duos was, I think, 5.8 million. We know that 750k TG-16s were manufactured for the North American market, so we can say that about 5 million systems existed in Japan. That 1.92 million figure for the Duo/CD system is also correct.

About the PC-FX: An interview from about 2001 with an NEC representative said the total sales were about 110,000. I suspect that for some of those numbers, we're actually seeing the number of systems shipped to retail outlets rather than sold through to homes.

[PCEngineHell]

PC-FX was neat hardware hampered by poor game selection. Was ridiculous for them to think they could put a game machine out and not have it rely on a traditional game selection. There should have been more arcade ports on the thing if nothing else. As is you look at the game library and it makes the system look like NEC had no long term goals set for it, just put it out on the market and said fuck it.

[EvilEvoIX]

That is correct. The global sales figure for the PCE including Duos was, I think, 5.8 million. We know that 750k TG-16s were manufactured for the North American market, so we can say that about 5 million systems existed in Japan. That 1.92 million figure for the Duo/CD system is also correct.

About the PC-FX: An interview from about 2001 with an NEC representative said the total sales were about 110,000. I suspect that for some of those numbers, we're actually seeing the number of systems shipped to retail outlets rather than sold through to homes.

Less then a Million TG16's in the states?  I could have sworn it would have been higher?  Growing up the Tg16 was known, it wasn't even an odd ball it was right there with Sega and Nintendo for a time.  I can't believe it was that low.

[SamIAm]

Straight from the horse's mouth:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/225466/stalled_engine_the_turbografx16_.php

(on page 3)

[elmer]

Straight from the horse's mouth:

I've read that a couple of times since it was published ... and it still nearly brings me to tears.

The incredible ability of all those involved to successfully rip defeat from the jaws of victory is ... frankly, still mind-boggling! 

[SamIAm]

It is awfully frustrating. You definitely get a sense while reading that article that if they had only gotten some better people working on the US side in '88 and '89, things might have been really different.

As I mentioned in our conversation in the PC-FX forum, I think the relationship with Hudson and NEC is probably at the heart of why their console line wound up like it did.

But NEC wasn't moving units, and had paid out an extraordinary amount of money to Hudson in royalties on its initial allotment of systems and games: "When they created 750,000 units, we were paid royalties on those 750,000 units. We were also paid royalties on each sale of each HuCARD. So Hudson did not hurt from the poor showing that they had against Sega," says Greiner.

NEC's Japanese management was hesitant to invest more money into the TurboGrafx-16 until it saw some return. It was also complacent.

That's just screwy. Neither side really cares about the other in this arrangement because of the way their bottom lines are set up. In the long term, this seems fundamental to the undoing of NEC and Hudson's console business.