TheSource on 22 July 2008
Hm...13 million NES (Famicoms) were sold in Japan by December 4, 1988 (probably shipped).
So that means...24 million NES units were shipped just between the Americas and Japan by the end of 1988 based on what some of these other NYTimes articles say.
Add the 9 million shipped in 1989 in the Americas, and NES was at ~33million shipped worldwide (at least) by the end of 1989.
Famicom (NES) launched in Japan in 1983...so it had probably slowed down, and sales were fairly low in Europe...but I'd bet NES was at 35+ m by the end of 1989, and maybe as high as 38m-40m in shipments.
People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.
When there are more laws, there are more criminals.
- Lao Tzu
