Do Nintendo really never make new games?

[Erik Aston]

Nintendo's current success is obviously dependant on new franchises. Who cares if they aren't new genres? That's not the question.

Here's all you need to know... the biggest franchises in the world today...

1. Nintendogs (on its way to 20 million sales on DS)
2. Pokemon (growing in popularity from last-gen; could almost catch Nintendogs)
3. Grand Theft Auto (can do nearly 15 million sales)
4. Mario (should climb towards 15 million sales on DS; 3D and Kart games can also do minimum 5-10 million)
5. Gran Turismo (has proven 10-15 million selling power, but only once per generation)
6. Brain Training (both iterations will at least push 10 million)
7. Animal Crossing (will almost certainly reach 10 million on DS)
8. Wii-brand (demoted because its only proven as a pack-in; however Wii Sports should cross 20 million and Wii Play 10 million about a year from now.)
9. Halo (8+ million on XBox)

So basically, 4 of the 8 biggest franchises in the world today were created by Nintendo since 2001; 3 of them since 2005. There are, in fact, less than 20 franchises in history which were ever able to move 10 million copies of a game--even if you count everything from PONG to Tamagotchi and franchises like Final Fantasy or Starcraft which only reached 9++ million, its still less than 20. Assuming More Brain Training and Animal Crossing DS reach that mark, Nintendo will have launched 4 such franchises in a 6 year span 2001-2006--every new franchise to reach the mark this decade.

So I'd say they've done an okay job with new franchises recently.