Classic Sales Figures: Intellivision Games

[mike_intellivision]

I thought it was time that I put together a thread on sales for the first game system that I owned: the Intellivision.

 

Originally sold by Mattel, the system lasted parts of three decades – 1979 to 1990.  During its original run (1979-1984) it was sold worldwide: by Mattel in NA and PAL territories, by Bandai in Japan, and by Digiplay in Brazil. (There were also store branded units by Sylvania GTE, Tandy/Radio Shack, and Sears).

 

After the video game crash of 1984, a former Mattel marketing executive bought the rights to the games and existing stock. The company – INTV Inc. – sold consoles and games (including some new ones) until it went bankrupt in 1990.

 

So basically, the system started its life competing against the Atari 2600 and ended it competing against the Sega Genesis (and the Atari 2600 which also was still selling in 1990).

 

It is estimated that 6M units were sold, though the original Mattel programmers (the “Blue Sky Rangers”(BSRs)  site only 3M units sold. The discrepancy appears to be the result of the BSRs only accounting for the Mattel sales. It is estimated up to another 3M were sold (in some cases apparently as replacement units or back-up units to those who already had bought the system).

 

What is interesting though is that the system had half a dozen million “sellers” (including pack-ins and bundle offers). And since the BSRs say on their website (www.intellivisiongames.com) that their sales data reflects Mattel data through mid-1983, these were million sellers on a 3M base.

 

Below are the sales figures culled from the “Intellivision Lives” game – Xbox version. They basically jibe with the limited sales information posted on the website (though some of the million sellers are estimated since they were close but had not reached that point by mid-1983).

 

Las Vegas Poker & Black Jack 2M (pack-in)

MLB Baseball 1M

NFL Football 1M

Astrosmash 1M (free bonus)

Space Armada 1M

Space Battle 1M

Star Strike “nearly” 800K

Armor Battle 700K

Auto Racing 575K

Night Stalker 550K

Triple Action 500K

Sea Battle 500K

NBA Basketball 500K

Boxing 500K

Space Hawk 500K

US Ski Team Skiing 450K

SNAFU 400K

PBA Bowling 400K

PGA Golf 375K

Tennis 350K

Frog Bog 350K

NHL Hockey 325K

Sub Hunt 300K

NASL Soccer 300K

B-17 Bomber 300K (voice game)

Space Spartans 300K (voice game)

Utopia 250K

Horse Racing 250K

Backgammon 150K

Checkers 125K

Shark Shark! 100K

Reversi 100K

Las Vegas Roulette 100K

Vectron 100K

Sharp Shot 100K

Royal Dealer 75K (the lowest sales of any pre-crash release Mattel game)

Sales data has been found for three other games

 

The BSRs website says Advanced Dungeons & Dragons sold 700K

The BSRs website says that Tron Solar Sailer (voice) sold 90K

It can be inferred from the BSRs website that Bomb Squad (voice) sold 300K

 

More sales data when I get it.

I just thought this would be interesting.

 

Mike from Morgantown