REDMOND, Wash. -- The dedicated video game industry grew by more than $700 million in 1999 to total retail revenues nearing $7 billion, with virtually all of the increase attributed to products for Nintendo of America Inc.'s portable Game Boy Color system, including the Pokemon line of game software. Counting all retail revenues for all game products, Nintendo's industry leadership represents 47 percent of all industry retail sales.
According to independent sales data from the NPD Group, the popularity of Game Boy products boosted the portable segment of the industry from just 8 percent of all sales in 1998, to 19 percent last year. Across all categories in 1999, Nintendo claimed the industry's top six games for a total of seven of the top 10 best selling games, encompassing five Pokemon titles and the Christmas season best-seller, the Nintendo 64 blockbuster, Donkey Kong 64, which sold more than 2 million units.Top 10 best selling 1999 interactive entertainment titles
Ranked on Units Sold
Rank Platform/Title Publisher
1 Gboy Pokemon Blue Nintendo of America
2 Gboy Pokemon Red Nintendo of America
3 Gboy Pokemon Yellow Nintendo of America
4 N64 Donkey Kong 64 Nintendo of America
5 Gbc Pokemon Pinball Nintendo of America
6 N64 Pokemon Snap Nintendo of America
7 Psx Gran Turismo Sony Computer Ent.
8 N64 Super Smash Brothers Nintendo of America
9 Psx Driver Gt Interactive
10 Psx Spyro The Dragon Sony Computer Ent.
"While many industry observers focus on more powerful technology, it's clear that the game players still care most about great game entertainment," says Peter Main, executive vice president for sales and marketing, Nintendo of America. "Even with essentially the same processor it's used for 10 years, we sold twice as many Game Boy hardware units in 1999 as any other year in history. Game Boy hardware sales were up 142 percent over 1998, and Game Boy game sales jumped 153 percent."
The Pokemon phenomenon promises to grow still further in 2000, with the debut of Pokemon Stadium for the Nintendo 64 in March, the premiere of the second Pokemon feature film in summer, and the introduction of an entirely new group of Pokemon characters when Pokemon Gold and Silver editions arrive in the U.S. in fall. In Japan, the Gold and Silver games launched in November 1999, and sold nearly 2 million copies in just one day.
Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, is the acknowledged worldwide leader in the creation of interactive entertainment. To date, Nintendo has sold more than one billion video games worldwide, has created such industry icons as Mario and Donkey Kong and launched franchises like The Legend of Zelda and Pokemon. Nintendo manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home video game systems, including the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy--the world's best selling video game system. As a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Washington, serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in North America.