Nintendo didn't save America: 22M of the 30M NES sold happened in 1989-1991

[cwpab]

You've read the story a thousand times: the world plays Atari, the world gets tired of Atari because of the low quality games, E. T. games are disposed of in the desert and Nintendo emerges as an angel in 1985 to save the world from the fatal video game crash.

Obviously nothing like this happened in Europe, so the story has been properly adapted and now it often says "the crash in America".

But the thing is, computer gaming never crashed in the USA, and most American video game players in the 80s chose a Commodore 64 or another computer.

The revelation came to me after doing some research today. I was curious after a Digital Antiquarian article about Acorn and Amstrad basically (and wrongfully) implied that "America only wanted Nintendos" and that there were no good programmers in America, only in Britain because these kids were forced to program for the ZX81, which had no games by itself ( https://www.filfre.net/2016/06/acorn-and-amstrad/ ).

Simultaneously, I found another topic in another forum where an 8 bit computer fan was trying to debunk the myth that Commodore was not big in the States. A slightly different topic, but it looks like a real issue judging by the other article I mention and multiple people saying that America only liked consoles.

So here's the real data I discovered:
- Before 1989, 13.5 million American Households had a computer Vs. only 7 million a NES.
- NES sales go crazy in 1989, 1999 and 1991 with 9 millions only in the 1988-1989 fiscal year for a total of 22 millions during those 3 years.
- But the problem is... this was already the start of the 16 bit era and people were hyped (and sometimers buying) an Amiga, an Atari ST, an MS-DOS PC, a Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, a SNES...
- And computers were gaining market like crazy: from 8% of households in 1984 to 50% by the year 2000. In the early 90s, 25M of the 100M American households had a computer, thanks to the IBM clone boom and, combined with the increased sales of the SNES and Genesis, this leaves NES owners with an outdated console from the previous generation that was probably bought by parents as a Christmas gift.
- Only 4M copies of the first Zelda were sold in the US, but 28M units of Duck Hunt made it the 2nd best selling game of the console... Because it was bundled with it. This gives an idea of what kind of gamers were buying the NES. With no piracy whatsoever, 90% didn't even buy a masterpiece like Zelda. Probably there was a lot of rentals involved, but...
- By 1991, it was clear that serious gamers were playing computers or 16 bit consoles, so these late NES sales are not especially important in video game history and are more likely the result of a reduced price campaign.

Sources:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/184685/percentage-of-households-with-computer-in-the-united-states-since-1984/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/183635/number-of-households-in-the-us/
https://www.neogaf.com/threads/nintendo-historical-shipment-data-1983-present.701305/
https://vgsales.fandom.com/wiki/Fourth_generation_of_video_games#Hardware_sales_figures

[Gryzor]

Interesting stuff, and thanks for sharing!

As to whether Nintendo saved the market or not, I think we should look at some data series leading up to the crash and afterwards. Who knows, even 200k units may have been able to reverse the tide at a critical juncture (number pulled out of my arse).

[BSC]

You've read the story a thousand times: the world plays Atari, the world gets tired of Atari because of the low quality games, E. T. games are disposed of in the desert and Nintendo emerges as an angel in 1985 to save the world from the fatal video game crash.

Not gonna challenge your research as a whole, but I think the introductory assumption is already walking on thin ice. I for one have never heard the story (let alone 1000 times) that "Nintendo saved the world", but it was more along the lines that the Japanese console manufacturers (mostly Nintendo and Sega) at that time kind of revived a part of the gaming market which took a really heavy blow after (not due to!) that ET story and some other things which went sideways for games consoles (not home computers) around the same time. No sources from me, sorry, only condensed bits from my memory. But I like to hear what others have to say and I will surely read your post again.

[cwpab]

Yes, but this has been told to us as "the great video game crash of 83", not "the American console crash of 83". And most importantly, nobody has been mentioning this "small detail" that I want to emphasize: Nintendo sales only skyrocketted in 1989, which means computer gaming dominated the USA in the 80s.

That's quite different from the story we've been hearing, and I'm glad I discovered it today. The NES was basically "old gen" when it sold most of those 22M.

[Gryzor]

You've read the story a thousand times: the world plays Atari, the world gets tired of Atari because of the low quality games, E. T. games are disposed of in the desert and Nintendo emerges as an angel in 1985 to save the world from the fatal video game crash.

Not gonna challenge your research as a whole, but I think the introductory assumption is already walking on thin ice. I for one have never heard the story (let alone 1000 times) that "Nintendo saved the world", but it was more along the lines that the Japanese console manufacturers (mostly Nintendo and Sega) at that time kind of revived a part of the gaming market which took a really heavy blow after (not due to!) that ET story and some other things which went sideways for games consoles (not home computers) around the same time. No sources from me, sorry, only condensed bits from my memory. But I like to hear what others have to say and I will surely read your post again.

The usual story goes like that:

The market was saturated with low-quality titles and the public was getting nervous and turning away from gaming, giving credence to the opinion that videogaming was a fad. ET was the straw that broke the camel's back and the public finally had enough. But then Nintendo appeared and managed to drag them back in.

Always found it rather oversimplified, but that's the story.

[andycadley]

Yes, but this has been told to us as "the great video game crash of 83", not "the American console crash of 83". And most importantly, nobody has been mentioning this "small detail" that I want to emphasize: Nintendo sales only skyrocketted in 1989, which means computer gaming dominated the USA in the 80s.

That's quite different from the story we've been hearing, and I'm glad I discovered it today. The NES was basically "old gen" when it sold most of those 22M.

Prior to 83 there were a lot of companies selling games consoles in the US (with varying degrees of success). It looked like the hottest market, basically a licence to print money.

The video game crash pretty much wiped all of those out and the market didn't really recover until the NES comes along, mostly because everyone in the US electonics industry had been burnt by a "fad".

But I don't think people actually stopped playing games, lots of people stuck with the few 2600 games they had. The rental market there was also massive, speak to almost any American from that era and they'll have stories of game rentals. The PC did make massive ground in the home and no doubt there were some playing games on them but probably much more as a secondary activity because they really weren't up to it till around 93/94.

[BSC]

but this has been told to us as "the great video game crash of 83", not "the American console crash of 83".

That's true but since, at that time, many publishers of consoles and games were actually from the US - casting huge shadows over the few other countries - that boiled down to the same thing. I think it was also a reflection of the cultural magnitude the US had at that time. Even the Japanese video games market was in a way inspired by and mimicking it. 

I also think you can't compare the number of households owning *any* home computer vs the number of NESes, that's like comparing the numbers of vegetables sold to the number of bananas sold. Does not match. But then, that comparison also sounds like for every two vegetables people also bought one banana. The banana "industry" should be proud ;-)