The red figure is my estimate for what NES and Master System would have done in the March 1990 FY if Nintendo had a 12 month fiscal year instead of a seven month FY.
All 32 bit figures include production shipments, not unit sales to retailers from Sony. 128 Bit system shipments are the same - except that after FY9 Sony switched to unit sales to retail as well.
Pink figures are big three projections for the year ending March 2009.
Definitions:
8 Bit: FY1 = August 1983 FY, systems = NES & MS
16 Bit = SNES & Genesis
32 Bit = Saturn, N64, PS1
128 Bit = DC, PS2, Xbox, GC
Wii Gen = Wii, 360, PS3
GB = GB (includes GBC)
GBA = GBA
DS Gen = All DS & PSP iterations to date
Looking at the data, FY5 or FY 6 should be the peak of the current 'Wii gen' while the DS Gen may have peaked in FY March 2009.
The projected DS & PSP shipments, and the projected Wii gen shipments are the highest ever for a single year in the history of the industry. Gaming follows its cycles, not macroeconomic cycles :)
People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.
When there are more laws, there are more criminals.
- Lao Tzu
