Category Interesting Facts

How Many People Play Nintendo? [Stats, Facts and Trends]

Author Toni Published on 10 min read

Last modified on October 20th, 2022 at 4:58 pm

30+ Exciting Nintendo Statistics in 2022

With new video game titles and sequels, console upgrades, and theme park openings, there’s still a lot going on for Nintendo Entertainment.

Check out these Nintendo statistics as we will dive into everything you need to know about this gaming console.

General Nintendo Statistics

1. When was Nintendo invented?

(Nintendo)

Nintendo has been in the home console business for 38 years, with over 6,700 game titles from participating publishers.

In September 2021, the number of game titles available for purchase on Nintendo eShop surpassed 6,700.

2. How many Nintendo accounts are there? 

(Nintendo)

There are over 250 million Nintendo accounts in 164 countries worldwide, by the current Nintendo statistics

The number of people who have accessed Nintendo has surpassed 250 million. These accounts are based in 164 different countries and regions.

3. Nintendo partnered with Niantic in 2021. 

(Gamesindustry.biz)

The first game that was announced as a product of this partnership was Pikmin. This is a huge deal, knowing that Nintendo Entertainment System rarely releases apps for the mobile market, with the last one happening around 6 years ago.

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4. As for the future trends, this Japan-based company announced many new titles in 2022.

(Nintendo)

Players can look forward to plenty of new video game titles in the year ahead of us, with some of them being:

  • Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Pokemon Shining Pearl
  • Big Brain Academy: Brain vs Brain
  • Pokemon Legends: Arceus
  • Kirby and the Forgotten Land
  • Splatoon 3, Bayonetta 3
  • The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of Wild

5. Nintendo theme parks are a huge deal, with many of them opening in 2024.

(Nintendo)

Apart from Super Nintendo World opening in March 2022, Nintendo is planning on opening other theme parks as well, including the opening Donkey Kong Area in 2024, and new theme parks in Orlando, Hollywood, and Singapore.

6. Nintendo partnered with Illumination for a Super Mario movie, premiering in 2022. 

(Nintendo)

During the holiday season in 2022, the global audience will get a chance to see the Super Mario CG-animated movie.

7. Nintendo Wii sales statistics show that Wii/Wii U software sales have fallen under 130,000 in 2022. 

(Statista)

The Wii/Wii U software sales peaked in 2009, with 204.58 million software sales. However, in 2022, that number was around 130,000, which is a significant decrease, as stated in the statistics of Nintendo Wii.

8. Wii Sports is the top-selling Wii game title of 2022. 

(Statista)

As of April 2021, the best-selling Wii game was Wii Sport, with 82.9 million lifetime units sold. Some other best-selling Wii games include:

  • Mario Kart Wii (almost 38 million units sold)
  • Wii Sports Resort (more than 33 million units sold)
  • New Super Mario Bros. Wii (more than 30.3 units sold)
  • Wii Play (more than 28 million units sold)
  • Wii Fit (almost 22.7 million units sold)

Related: Pokemon Go statistics and facts

Nintendo Switch Statistics

9. Nintendo Switch sales statistics show that the number of total units sold surpassed 90 million.

 (Nintendo) (Statista)

At the end of 2021, global Nintendo Switch unit sales were around 90 million. With the new video games entering the market, the sales numbers are expected to grow even more.

The Nintendo statistics in 2022 released by Statista say that as of July 2022, almost 40 million of those units were sold in North America, while over 28 million were in Europe .

10. How many people play Nintendo? 

(Nintendo)

The most recent data shows there are over 79 million users who play the famous Nintendo console at least once a year.

11. Nintendo Switch was the most searched Black Friday tech deal in the UK. 

(City A.M.)

According to Nintendo Switch facts, the console had 26,000 online searches for Black Friday, being the most searched tech deal in the UK.

12. Nintendo Switch sold over 1.5 million units in the UK in 2020 alone. 

(Nintendolife)

Nintendo Switch made as much as Xbox and PlayStation combined, generating about £367.4 million in 2020 only.

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13. The company announced a permanent £20 price reduction in the UK. 

(Digital Spy)

As of September 2021, customers in the UK and Europe can count on £20 off the popular console, originally released in 2017. This means that the previous £279.99 price is now reduced to £259.99 on their official webshop.

14. During the lockdown, Nintendo Switch sales statistics saw growth by an astonishing 215%.

(Ukie)

In 2020, during the initial lockdown, Nintendo Switch sales grew by 215% in the UK, making it the best-selling individual software SKU for more than 20 weeks.

15. However, in 2021, Nintendo Switch statistics reported a 34% sales decline. 

(Gamesindustry.biz)

At the end of September 2021, Nintendo Switch reported its profit was $1.9 billion (about  £1.4 billion), which is a 34% decrease year over year.

16. Moreover, they announced cutting production estimates for the console by 20% in the following year. 

(Gamesindustry.biz)

Due to supply shortages, Nintendo has scaled down the manufacturing expectations for the fiscal year, from the initial 30 million systems to 24 million.

17. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was the top-selling Nintendo Switch game, with 46.82 million units sold. 

(Statista)

As of July 22, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold around 46.82 million units, meaning it was the best-selling Nintendo Switch game. Some of its other top-selling video games are:

  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons (over 39 million units sold)
  • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (close to  29 million units sold)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the wild (over 27 million units sold)
  • Pokemon Sword/Pokemon Shield (more than 24 million units sold)

Nintendo Industry Statistics

18. Nintendo 64 launched in Europe in 1997 and sold 2.3 million in the first year. 

(Nintendo)

Europeans loved Nintendo 64 from the moment it launched in March 1997. Only in the first year, the sales went up to hit 2.3 million in total.

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19. How much money does Nintendo have?

(Nintendo Everything)

In February 2022, Nintendo sales statistics reported the following results:

  • Net sales this period – 1,302.2 billion yen
  • Operating profit this period – 472.5 billion yen
  • Operating profit this period – 472.5 billion yen
  • Switch hardware total — 103.54 million
  • Switch software total – 766.41 million
  • Overall Switch sales this period – $18.95 million
  • Standard Switch sales this period – $11.79 million
  • Switch OLED sales this period – $3.99 million
  • Switch Lite sales this period – $3.17 million
  • Smart devices, IP related income, etc. this period – 39.8 million yen

20. Nintendo’s biggest revenue comes from the Americas, which amounted to $6.6 billion (about £4.9) in 2021. 

(Statista)

The Americas are generating the most revenue for Nintendo, with around $6.65 coming from sales made in 2021. Europe has the second largest Nintendo market share.

21. There are around 1.7 million households with a Nintendo in the UK. 

(Statista)

At the beginning of 2020, the number of UK households that had a Nintendo was 1.7 million. This is a huge decrease in the last decade, considering that in 2010 that number was 4.9 million.

22. Nintendo was the most successful boxed games publisher in the UK in 2020.

(Gamesindustry.biz)

As video game Nintendo industry statistics show, Nintendo accounted for more than 20% of all physical games sold in the UK last year, with EA being at the far 2nd place with 12.4%.

Nintendo Demographics

23. Nintendo age statistics show that users aged 20-25 are the highest share of players. 

(Shacknews)

Nintendo reported that their largest target group are young adults between 20-25 years, whereas older adults are also holding a decent percentage. In fact, children have a smaller share than people in their 30s.

24. The gender gap between players is slowly disappearing. 

(NintendoSoup)

According to a study about Nintendo switch owners, in 2017, 70% of respondents were male, and 30% were female players. However, in 2018, the ratio was equal; 50% of respondents were male Nintendo switch owners, and 50% were female

25. In 2020 only, the number of female players has almost doubled.

(Interpret.la)

Available data from the US shows that in early 2020, the percentage of women playing Nintendo Switch was 6.5%, whereas at the end of the year that share was 13.2%.

26. Nintendo has over 6,500 employees. 

(Statista)

Nintendo employment statistics show that the total number of employees is more than 6,500 as of March 2021.

27. The average employee is younger than 40 years. 

(Nintendo)

As the latest Nintendo annual report suggests, the average age of an employee is around 39.

28. Most workers are coming from Asia. 

(Nintendo Everything)

Nintendo’s employees are Asia, America, Europe, and Australia. Here’s what the breakdown looks like:

  • Asia – Around 2,500 employees, with 80.5% being men.
  • America – 1,256 employees, 63.5 are men.
  • Europe – around 900 employees, about 62% are men.
  • Australia – has 91 employees, with 47 being women and 44 men.

Nintendo Franchises Statistics

29. Nintendo video games sales statistics show that the best-selling console title is Mario, with 653 million units sold. 

(TheGamer)

Most popular Nintendo franchises include video games such as Pokemon, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros, and many more. Some of the best selling franchises are:

  • Mario, with 653 million units sold since 1981
  • Pokemon, with 496 million units sold since 1996
  • Wii, with 202 million units sold since 2006
  • The Legend of Zelda, with 103 million units sold since 1986

Related: Best video game quotes

Nintendo Switch vs PlayStation

30. The data from July 2021 shows that PlayStation 4 sold has a bigger market share than Nintendo Switch by 11.7%. 

(VGChartz)

The number of total PlayStation 4 sales is 115,647,633, or a 45.9% market share, whereas in the same time range Nintendo Switch made 86,325,310, and held a 34.2% market share.

31. What was Nintendo’s first game?

(RetroGeekery)

The first Nintendo game was a card-playing game named Hanafuda playing cards.

Nintendo Facts

32. What year was Nintendo founded?

(Wired)

One of the amazing Nintendo facts is that in 1889 there was a company called Nintendo Koppai, which later became the dominant maker of playing cards for over 60 years in Japan.

33. Created in 1981, Donkey Kong was the first game with jumping, according to Nintendo history facts. 

(Ultimate History of Video Games)

Now famous jump-over-objects games weren’t available before Donkey King.

34. Super Mario 64 was the 1st game with a dynamic camera system, which is now a standard for 3D video games. 

(Ultimate History of Video Games)

According to fun Nintendo facts, before Mario, video games had a static camera of were shown from the 1st person view. Super Mario 64 has set a new industry standard, introducing a dynamic camera system.

35. Another Nintendo interesting fact is that Kirby’s original name would’ve been Popopo. 

(Nintendo Soup)

In fact, the original name of Kirby was “Twinkle Popo” and he was known as “Popopo” for a long time before finally being renamed to Kirby. However, the name became relevant again in “Kirby Mass Attack”, set on Popopo islands.

36. As for Nintendo Wii facts, Wii and DS were the main reasons Nintendo won 2 Emmys. 

(Destructoid)

Nintendo won two Emmy Awards, one in 2007 for the plus-shaped D-pad, and the second one a year later, for Wii’s motion-sensing controls and DS’s touch-screen controls.

Conclusion

The good news is, Nintendo has prepared a lot of new sources of excitement for its customers.

This way, they can count on endless hours of fun, whether alone, or with friends and family.

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FAQ

Does Nintendo own Pokemon?

The Pokémon Company is the official licensee and owner of the Pokémon brand and license. It is made up of three organizations: Nintendo, Creatures, and Game Freak.

Who created Nintendo?

Nintendo Corporation Limited is based in Kyoto, Japan and was founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi.

How much is Nintendo worth?

Nintendo is reportedly worth around $95 billion (£70 billion) as of July 2021.

Does Nintendo still make Wii?

The Wii was discontinued in October 2013, but Nintendo continued to develop and market the Wii Mini through 2017 and supplied a portion of the Wii’s online features until 2019.

How much does a Nintendo cost?

As mentioned in our Nintendo statistics article, Nintendo has recently introduced a permanent £20 price reduction for UK customers, meaning that the console now costs £259.99.

Sources:

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