I would like to poll the gaming community and see what your personal sales criteria are for a console NOT being a failure. For example, most people here seem to consider the N64 to NOT be a commercial failure whereas the Gamecube was largely considered to be a failure from a sales point of view. The difference between the N64 and the Gamecube sales were as follows:
(Sales in millions) |
Nintendo 64 | Gamecube |
| North America | 20.63 | 12.94 |
| Japan | 5.54 | 4.04 |
| Other | 6.75 | 4.77 |
| Total | 32.92 | 21.74 |
Do you feel that there is an static minimum number of sales that a console must ship in order to not be regarded as a failure? If so, where do you feel that this line should be placed:
10 million:
This would place the Dreamcast into the failure category while a system such as the Wii U would not be regarded as a commercial failure.
(Sales in millions) |
Dreamcast | Wii U (*Q2 2015) |
| North America | 4.64 | 5.21 |
| Japan | 2.66 | |
| Other | 4.49 | 2.87 |
| Total | 9.13 | 10.73 |
20 million:
This would place the Wii U (likely to be less than 20 million, lifetime) in the failure category whereas the Gamecube (21.74 million) would not be regarded as a failure.
30 million:
This would place the original XBox in the failure category, while the N64 could be regarded as possibly being a success:
| (sales in millions) | Xbox (OG) | Nintendo 64 |
| North America | 16 | 20.63 |
| Japan | 5.54 | |
| Other | 8 | 6.75 |
| Total | 24 | 32.92 |
40 million:
This would place the Sega Genesis (40-45 million) above the threshold for failure while the N64 (32.92 million) would be a failure.
50 million:
This would make the original NES as a possible success while the SNES would be considered a failure:
| (sales in millions) | SNES | NES |
| North America | 23.35 | 34 |
| Japan | 17.16 | 19.32 |
| Other | 8.58 | 8.56 |
| Total | 49.1 | 61.91 |
Sources:
