Nintendo's Game Boy Advance: Hotter Than Hollywood; Sales Should Surpass Those of Any Movie Studio

Business Wire, Nov 24, 2003

To download high-resolution, print-ready JPEG images, click on the thumbnail image above.

WARNING: these images are

very large (800K+)

Click here for caption

Entertainment Editors/Business Editors

NOTE TO MEDIA: Multimedia assets available

A photo is available at URL:

http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/photo.cgi?pw.112403/bb4

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 24, 2003

Hollywood studios are banking on huge holiday films like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Cat in the Hat and The Last Samurai to make their years, but no movie -- or movie studio -- will match the entertainment muscle of Nintendo's white-hot Game Boy(R) Advance. In fact, the Game Boy Advance line in 2003 is tracking to exceed the year's total box office revenues for any Hollywood studio.

That's right: Hardware and games for the Game Boy Advance are projected to exceed $1.5 billion in revenue in the United States, an estimate beyond the domestic estimates for any Hollywood movie maker.

"Game Boy Advance is the envy of the entertainment world," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "Not only does our 'studio' boast a library of more than 550 titles, but these hits get played over and over again."

Game Boy Advance games continue to drive sales of the hardware. Popular titles like Donkey Kong(R) Country, Final Fantasy Tactics(R) Advance, Super Mario(R) Advance 4: Super Mario Bros.(R) 3, Pokemon(R) Ruby and Pokemon(R) Sapphire all have contributed to its success. In 2002, about 7 million Game Boy Advance units were sold in the United States. This year, it is expected to reach nearly 9 million.

Despite the sluggish economy, sales of Game Boy Advance have flourished, thanks in part to the March release of the stylish, front-lit Game Boy(R) Advance SP and the release of the Game Boy Advance SP in new casings of Flame (red) and Onyx (black) six months later. The Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo GameCube(TM) are the only game systems to show an increase in systems sold compared with 2002.

Nintendo sold more than 400,000 Game Boy Advance systems in October alone, 100,000 more than any other game system! And its momentum continues:

-- When the Game Boy Advance is ranked alongside the three home

consoles, it grabs a commanding share of the market with 38

percent.

-- "The Game Boy will sell out this Christmas," says Michael

Pachter, vice president of research at Wedbush Morgan

Securities in Los Angeles.

So for Game Boy Advance, "advance" tickets are advised.

The worldwide leader and innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home and portable video game systems. Each year, hundreds of all-new titles for the best-selling Game Boy(R) Advance and Nintendo GameCube(TM) systems extend Nintendo's vast game library and continue the tradition of delivering a rich, diverse mix of quality video games for players of all ages. Since the release of its first home video game system in 1983, Nintendo has sold more than 1.8 billion video games globally, creating enduring industry icons such as Mario(TM) and Donkey Kong(R) and launching popular culture franchise phenomena such as Metroid(TM), Zelda(TM) and Pokemon(R). A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere.

For more information about Nintendo, visit the company's Web sites at either www.nintendo.com or press.nintendo.com. Please note that press.nintendo.com is a password-protected site; to receive a password, contact Tom Stratton at 206-505-8308.

Note: A photo is available at URL: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/photo.cgi?pw.112403/bb4