Latest Pokemon
Games Surpass One Million Sales in First Week;
Pokemon Gold And Silver Sales For Game Boy Color
Break U.S. Video Game Sales Record
Pokemon
is hotter than ever. The latest games
featuring the world's favorite kid entertainment
phenomenon, Pokemon Gold and Silver for Game
Boy(R) Color, sold an astounding 1.4 million
copies in the first week of availability,
smashing industry sales records. The previous
U.S. record breaker, Pokemon Yellow(TM) for Game
Boy, sold just over 600,000 units in its first
week.
"There's
no question about it; kids love to play Pokemon.
So far in 2000 the best-selling game in America
for any home console is Pokemon Stadium(TM) for
Nintendo(R) 64, and the best-selling game for any
handheld video game system is Pokemon Yellow for
Game Boy Color," says Peter Main, executive
vice president, sales and marketing at Nintendo
of America. "But Pokemon Gold and Silver
will eclipse even those impressive sales totals.
We project sales of 10 million units total of
these two games in less than six months
time."
Pokemon
remains the world's dominant video game
franchise. Even before last week's phenomenal
launch of Pokemon Gold and Silver, Pokemon games
represented five of America's eight top-selling
games so far in 2000 across all systems.(1) Of
the approximately 1,000 video games available at
retail this year, seven Pokemon titles are
responsible for 10 percent of all software units
sold year to date.
During
Pokemon's first 24 months of availability in the
American market (Pokemon Red and Blue launched
Sept. '98), Nintendo of America reported total
sales of 20 million Pokemon video games for Game
Boy Color and Nintendo 64, an average of about
800,000 units monthly. However, during the fourth
quarter of 2000, Nintendo projects sales of
between 10 and 12 million Pokemon video games in
90 days, an average in excess of three million a
month -- or nearly four times the previous rate
of sales. In addition to Pokemon Gold and Silver,
which officially launched on October 15, Nintendo
will introduce two additional Pokemon games this
holiday season: Hey You, Pikachu!(TM) for
Nintendo 64 on November 6, and Pokemon Puzzle
Challenge(TM) for Game Boy Color on December 4.
Pokemon Pikachu 2 GS(TM), an electronic pet
featuring a built-in meter that tallies the
amount the owner travels, also launched on
October 15.
The
excitement surrounding Pokemon Gold and Silver
has extended beyond the video game arena. The new
animated TV episodes set in the Pokemon Gold and
Silver world, "Pokemon: The Johto
Journeys," debuted at number one on Kids WB
on October 14. Hundreds of licensees are starting
to introduce new product lines based on the
Pokemon Gold and Silver characters -- from toys
to clothes to bed sheets to party supplies.
The
Pokemon Gold and Silver games significantly build
on previous Game Boy Color titles by introducing
more than 100 new Pokemon characters, a new world
to explore and many innovative game play
elements, such as a real-time internal clock.
Once set, the software constantly detects the
time of day a player is playing, which is
essential because some Pokemon only come out at
night, and some events occur at specific times.
While Gold and Silver follow the same RPG
storyline, each game features a different
character set, which promotes the training and
trading of different Pokemon, interactions that
continue to strongly appeal to players.
The
Pokemon phenomenon began in America in September
1998 with the release of the original Red and
Blue Game Boy games and the debut of the animated
television series. In the United States to date,
Nintendo has sold more than 20 million
Pokemon-related video games. Leisure Concepts
Inc., a division of 4Kids Entertainment Inc.
(NYSE:KDE), is Nintendo of America's exclusive
licensing agent for Pokemon in all territories
excluding Asia. In 2000, Nintendo projects the
Pokemon franchise total retail revenues to exceed
$3.0 billion in the United States alone. Pokemon
launched in Europe in October 1999 and has truly
become a worldwide cultural and retail
phenomenon.
Nintendo
Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, is the acknowledged
worldwide leader in the creation of interactive
entertainment. To date, Nintendo has sold more
than one billion video games worldwide, has
created such industry icons as Mario(R) and
Donkey Kong(R) and launched franchises like The
Legend of Zelda(R) and Pokemon. Nintendo
manufactures and markets hardware and software
for its popular home video game systems,
including the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy -- the
world's best-selling video game system. As a
wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America
Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as
headquarters for Nintendo's operations in North
America.
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