I've read that the Genesis sold more than 16 million state side?
http://segatastic.blogspot.com/2009/12/mega-drive-sales-figures-update.html?m=1
. There has been further research conducted into the Mega Drive's total sales figures within the Sega community, but this time more in-depth. This brings us closer to solving the dispute among retro gamers as to which console really did sell the most during the 16-bit console war.
Here is a list of sales figures compiled so far, including sources:
Genesis (North America) - 20 million
Mega Drive (Japan) - 4.3 million
Mega Drive (Europe) - 6.9 million
Mega Drive (Brazil) - 2 million+
Genesis 3 (North America) - 2 million
Nomad (North America) - 1 million
Mega Drive (Other Regions) - 3.5 million
This brings the total sold worldwide to around 39.7 million. The most widely-quoted figure of 29 million total units sold must therefore be inaccurate, as this new figure has been compiled from various sources rather than just one.
What the compiled figures do show is that the Mega Drive was the best-selling unit in the Americas. Nintendo's official sales figures quote that 23.35 million SNESs were sold in total, compared to the Mega Drive's 25 million.
The Mega Drive sold more than the SNES in "other regions" as well, which includes Europe - compare Sega's 10.4 million to Nintendo's 8.58 million.
These figures do miss out on one thing, however - there are no solid sales figures for the many variations of Mega Drives, such as the Wondermega and Multi-Mega. One website mentions that in North America 10,000 JVC X'Eyes may have been sold along with 5,000 CDXs.
If we take all of the figures gathered so far, we can safely assume that the Mega Drive sold almost 40 million units worldwide, a much more accurate figure than the previously assumed 29 million. We can also say that the Mega Drive outsold the SNES in the Western hemisphere.
It seems that Nintendo's huge sales of the SNES in Japan (17.7 million) have led to the general assumption that the Mega Drive was "beaten" everywhere, when in fact Japan was the only major market where this occurred. Japan's figures gave the total SNES sales a huge 49.1 million, compared to Sega's 39.7 million.
Aside from these sales figures, the community found some software and hardware revenue figures from Sega and Nintendo:
Sega - US Hardware and Software Revenue in millions of dollars (including Sega Genesis, Sega CD, and Sega 32X, not including Sega Nomad, Sega CDX, JVC X'Eye, the Genesis 3 or software sold by Majesco in 1997-1999)
1989 - $182
1990 - $280
1991 - $586
1992 - $1,151
1993 - $1,938
1994 - $1,812 (End of 16-bit era Total: $5,949)
1995 - $812
1996 - $294
1997 - $180
Total - $7,235
vs.
Super NES - US Hardware & Software Revenue in millions of dollars
1991 - $560
1992 - $1,733
1993 - $1,890
1994 - $1,471 (End of 16-bit era Total: $5,654)
1995 - $823
1996 - $514
1997 - $243 (End of Sega Total: $7,234)
1998 - $137
1999 - $20
Total - $7,391
This shows that Sega was ahead (revenue-wise) of Nintendo from 1994, with Sega's cheaper hardware and software suggesting more units were sold. If we take into account Sega's hardware and software not included on the list then surely they made more revenue in total?
I will update the figures when more sources have been found. All this effort put in from the community shows that for many of us, the 16-bit war will rage for all eternity!
Thank you for sharing that info.
While I am intrigued by it, it remains very murky.
I don't have time to address everything, but, for starters:
Revenue is not a useful metric. It does not measure the financial health (profit) of a company. As we all know, Xbox and PlayStation have impressive revenue figures, but actual profit reveals a completely different story.
Revenue is tied to average price of hardware/software...so if Sega sells 2 million Model 3 Genesis units @ $50 versus 1 million SNES Jr. units @$100, who is "winning"? *When* these items were sold is also vital: selling 1 million SNES Jr. 4 years before the platform is abandoned is BETTER than selling 2 million Model 3 Genesis units 2 years after Sega abandoned the platform.
Installed base sounds like a useful metric....unless profits are razor thin or non-existent. Or if a significant amount of installed base was sold at the tail-end of a console's "lifetime".
Installed base varies over time: totaling up numbers AFTER THE FACT is less useful than a chart comparing Sega vs. SNES installed base OVER TIME.
Also, when have you EVER JUDGED SUCCESS by installed base, revenue, profit, etc.?
Since I play games, I judge success by the breadth and scope of QUALITY GAMES that are READILY AVAILABLE over the course of a consoles lifetime.
This is the most subjective aspect of judging a system, but please note that I would never dream of simply counting "third parties" or totaling up the number of software titles officially licensed and released.
It does me NO GOOD if the best games for a platform were released in the final six months of a platform's existence. OR IN ANOTHER REGION.
Sorry, only a handful of folks (percentage-wise) imported games during 16-bit era..so if a game wasn't READILY AVAILABLE to an average person, then should that really be evaluated on the same level as a commonly available game? (This logic applies to domestic games that saw limited release, too).
My friend got Tengen Tetris on NES. It was so much fun, and better, than the Tetris experience that 9?% of NES players had. It wouldn't really be fair to treat each title as equivalents.
I could go on and on.
I would never, ever, look at total sums to determine the "reality" of video game console competition...I would certainly START there (assuming numbers were accurate), but BREAKING THE NUMBERS down, over time and region, is VITAL.
