As a child growing up in the 80’s, Nintendo played a very big role in my youth. Super Mario Bros, Zelda, Metroid, RBI Baseball, Contra, Castlevania were just a few of a long line of endless 8bit adventures we were challenged by our friends to conquer. Nintendo has evolved some since the days of the original Nintendo Entertainment System, but they continue to entertain children and adults alike with creative and challenging games that are just a bit more sophisticated than those we fondly remember.
So just how big has Nintendo become after all these years? and how much do you really know about this Japanese powerhouse company? Let’s find out…
Nintendo History
- Year Nintendo was founded: 1889 (yes, seriously)
- Nintendo Products prior to video games: playing cards, cab services, love hotels and toys
- “Nintendo” English translation: “leave luck to heaven”
- Nintendo’s first gaming console: TV-Game15 (1977)
- Nintendo’s first gaming handheld: Game & Watch (1980)
- Original name and launch date for the NES: Family Computer (Famicom) in Japan in 1983
- Year the Nintendo Entertainment System launched: 1985
- Year the Gameboy launched: 1989
Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash
Nintendo Consoles:
- Game & Watch (released 1980)
- Nintendo Entertainment System (released 1983)
- Famicom (released 1983)
- Game Boy (released 1989)
- Super Famicom (released 1990)
- Super Nintendo (released 1990)
- Virtual Boy (released 1995)
- N64 (released 1996)
- GameCube (released 2001)
- Game Boy Advance (released 2001)
- DS (released 2004)
- Wii (released 2006)
- 3DS (released 2011)
- Wii U (released 2012)
- Switch (released 2017)
See also: Full List of Video Game Consoles and Usage Stats
Photo by Alvaro Reyes on Unsplash
Nintendo Statistics
Here are a few of the more interesting Nintendo facts and important dates in Nintendo history I was able to dig up. As always, I will be adding more and updating these periodically as I find new stuff. Be sure to check back regularly.
Total number of Nintendo gaming devices sold all time:
Total number of Nintendo consoles sold all time:
Total number of Nintendo handheld devices sold all time:
Number of Nintendo Account users:
Number of Nintendo Switch Online members:
Total downloads of Nintendo mobile games:
Nintendo revenue (annual):
- FY 2015: $4.5 billion
- FY 2016: $4.53 billion
- FY 2017: $4.366 billion
- FY 2018: $9.958 billion
- FY 2019: $10.914 billion
- FY 2020: $12.115 billion
- FY 2021: $15.990 billion
- FY 2022: $14.011 billion
- FY 2023: $12.042 billion
- FY 2024: $11.071 billion
Total Nintendo mobile game revenue to date:
Number of Nintendo employees:
Nintendo’s most sold console of all time:
Nintendo DS (154.9 million consoles sold) (2019)
Percentage of Nintendo sales that are outside Japan:
Nintendo’s estimated value:
Total number of NES Classic sales:
Last updated 2/2/17
That’s all for now. Be sure to check back soon as we update all video game stats as soon as more are provided.