Nintendo May Lose it's Superstar Status

The Detroit Free Press - Stephen Advokat

December 20, 1990

Is this Christmas Nintendo's last hurrah? Some Wall Street analysts are predicting that this will be the last great Christmas for Nintendo.

Sean McGowan, a toy analyst for Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co. in New York, told Barron's, the financial weekly, that although video games would sell well this year, "It is going to be [Nintendo's] last great Christmas." McGowan says there are too many game titles available this year, retailers are overstocking their inventories and new, powerful 16-bit systems will all cut into sales.

McGowan predicted that Toys "R" Us will have as many as 70 different game titles on sale for under $20 by Christmas. Sega already sells a 16-bit system, and Nintendo has announced plans to introduce its own upgraded 16-bit system late next year.

McGowan estimates that as videophiles switch to more powerful systems, sales of 8-bit video game systems will wither. He says that 8-bit game systems will fall to 3.5 million next year, down from 7.5 million. He also predicts that sales of 8-bit games will fall to about 10 million, down from 60 million.