Introduction
I am an avid video game player, specifically, I play a lot of Nintendo games. I grew up with Nintendo consoles like the Wii, DS, 3DS, and Switch, and I also grew up playing a lot of Nintendo games such as Mario, the Legend of Zelda, and Pokemon. Nintendo is a Japanese video game company that is popular even in North America, and is known world-wide. Their latest model, the Nintendo Switch, has become one of their most popular consoles, and was a big step up from their previous model the Wii U. For this analysis, I want to know what contributes to video game sales for Nintendo within North America before the Switch.
In this data set, the consoles include the Wii, DS, 3DS, Wii U, Game Boy Advance (GBA), Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), GameCube (GC), G (Game Boy), and Nintendo 64 (N64). This data set gives a list of video games with sales greater than 100,000 copies from years 1996 to 2016.
Below are the data set fields:
• Name - The game’s name
• Platform - Platform of the games release
• Year_of_Release - Year of the game’s release
• Genre - Genre of the game
• Publisher - Publisher of the game
• NA_Sales - Sales in North America (in millions)
• EU_Sales - Sales in Europe (in millions)
• JP_Sales - Sales in Japan (in millions)
• Other_Sales - Sales in the rest of the world (in millions)
• Global_Sales - Total worldwide sales (in millions)
• Critic_score - Aggregate score compiled by Metacritic staff
• Critic_count - The number of critics used in coming up with the critic score
• User_score - Score by Metacritic’s subscribers
• User_count - Number of users who gave the user score
• Rating - The ESRB ratings
Here is a link where the data can be viewed: https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/kendallgillies/video-game-sales-and-ratings
This data set was obtained from Kaggle
Summary Statistics
Before we get into what contributes to Nintendo video game sales in North America, here are some summary statistics.
- The first table below shows the Nintendo video games with the top 10 sales in North America.
| Name | North America Sales |
|---|---|
| Wii Sports | 41.36 |
| Super Mario Bros. | 32.48 |
| Duck Hunt | 26.93 |
| Tetris | 26.17 |
| Super Mario World | 15.99 |
| Mario Kart Wii | 15.68 |
| Wii Sports Resort | 15.61 |
| New Super Mario Bros. Wii | 14.48 |
| Wii Play | 13.96 |
| Super Mario Bros. 3 | 12.47 |
Based on this table, Wii sports had the highest total sales within North America with a total of $41,360,000 million in sales. Five of the top 10 games were Mario games and five were specifically for the Wii.
- For the next statistic, I wanted to see which platforms sold the most video games. Nintendo has come out with multiple video game consoles. In this data set, the consoles include the Wii, DS, 3DS, Wii U, GBA, SNES, NES, GC, G, and N64. This data set only shows the data for games that sold over 100,000 copies, so the goal of this statistic is to look at which platforms sold the most games that sold at least 100,000 copies.
| Platform | Total Games |
|---|---|
| DS | 154 |
| GBA | 97 |
| 3DS | 87 |
| Wii | 85 |
| G | 61 |
| N64 | 60 |
| GC | 55 |
| NES | 45 |
| WiiU | 42 |
| SNES | 36 |
From the data set, Nintendo DS had the most total games sold. Based on the table, the DS had 154 games that sold over 100,000 copies. The platform that had the least number of games within the data set was SNES, which only sold 36 games that sold over 100,000 copies.
- For the final summary statistic, I wanted to see the total number of games for each genre. Similar to the platform summary statistic, I wanted to see which genres had the most games that sold over 100,000 copies. In this data set, the genres are
| Genre | Total Games |
|---|---|
| Platform | 114 |
| Role-Playing | 110 |
| Misc | 103 |
| Action | 81 |
| Puzzle | 78 |
| Sports | 56 |
| Racing | 38 |
| Adventure | 36 |
| Strategy | 33 |
| Simulation | 30 |
| Shooter | 25 |
| Fighting | 18 |
In the data set, Nintendo has sold 114 platform video games that sold over 100,000 copies. This means Platform games are popular for Nintendo in terms of volume. Based on the table, Nintendo has not made a lot of Fighting games that have sold over 100,000 copies.
Descriptive Analysis
Impact of Platform
The first aspect of Nintendo video games sales I wanted to look at was the Platform. As mentioned in the summary statistic, Nintendo has made many video game consoles. Based on the summary statistic, the DS had the most number of games and the SNES had the least number of games. Now I want to see if the platform of the video game impacts the sales of Nintendo games in North America. Even though a platform can have a lot of game titles, some platforms can have made only a few but can make a ton of sales based on the popularity of the games and console.
With the table below, I showed the platform, the total number of games, and the total sales the platform made their from games within North America. The table is arranged in descending order based on the sales in North America.
| Platform | Total Games | North America Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Wii | 85 | 179.88 |
| DS | 154 | 116.69 |
| G | 61 | 111.66 |
| NES | 45 | 106.29 |
| N64 | 60 | 75.30 |
| 3DS | 87 | 60.41 |
| GBA | 97 | 52.96 |
| GC | 55 | 46.60 |
| SNES | 36 | 45.14 |
| WiiU | 42 | 26.75 |
Even though the Nintendo DS had the highest number of game titles sold, the Wii console made the most sales in North America. The Wii had 85 video games that accounted for $179,880,000 million of Nintendo’s video game sales from 1996 to 2016. This also correlates to the first summary statistic we did that looked at the 10 most popular games. Half of the games (5 out of 10) were made specifically for the Wii. The DS which had the highest number of game titles, had the second highest sales in North America, which makes sense on the high volume of video games they sold with over 100,000 copies.
If we continue to look at the graph, we can see that the Wii U, which was Nintendo’s most recent model at the time of the data set, had the lowest amount of video game sales in North America. The Nintendo console that had the least number of game titles, the SNES, was second to last in terms of sales. What was fascinating about this is that the Wii U had the second to last total number of video games titles, it had more video games that SNES, at yet it made less sales than the games made for the SNES. This shows how even though the Wii you made a couple more games than the SNES, the game titles may not have been as popular since the sales was less than the sales for the SNES.
This table shows how the platform, or the console, did have an impact on Nintendo video game sales in North America.
Impact of Genre
Now that we have looked at the platform, I want to investigate the genre of Nintendo games. I am curious to see if the genre of a video game has an impact on the sales within North America. As seen from the summary statisitc, the Platform games had the highest number of games that sold over 100,000 copies, and Fighting had the least number of game titles.
For this data visual, I showed the genre, the total number of games, and the total sales the genre for those games made within North America. The table is arranged in descending order based on the sales in North America.
| Genre | Total Number of Games Sold | Total North America Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | 114 | 219.87 |
| Role-Playing | 110 | 111.12 |
| Sports | 56 | 98.20 |
| Racing | 38 | 73.73 |
| Action | 81 | 63.63 |
| Misc | 103 | 61.94 |
| Puzzle | 78 | 55.73 |
| Shooter | 25 | 51.35 |
| Simulation | 30 | 29.74 |
| Fighting | 18 | 27.07 |
| Adventure | 36 | 17.67 |
| Strategy | 33 | 11.63 |
In North America, the most popular video game genre based on the the total sales and total games sold is Platform, having 114 game titles that made $219,870,000 in sales in North America. This means that Nintendo not only made a large amount of Platform video games, but they accounted for a large amount of their sales in North America. Nintendo may have made a lot of Platform games because they were making a lot of money off of them.
The genre with the least total sales were Strategy games, however, the Fighting genre had the least total video games at yet had a higher total sales. This indicates that even though Nintendo did not have a tone of Fighting games, they were popular and made a lot of sales in North America to me.
Based on the Fighting games making more sales than Strategy games, even though Strategy had more game titles, this shows that the genre does have an impact of the video game sales within North America.
Impact of Year Realeased
The year a video game or a console is released can have a big impact on sales, especially if North America is dealing with a recession or any other event that could be related to money. For my third visual, I want to look at the video game sales within North America over the years. I also want to see if the introduction of a new platform had anything to do with video games sales.
We learned from the first visual that the platform does have an impact on video game sales, but each console came out at a different year. With this visual, I want to see how the video game sales fluctuated over the years, and if a new console had an impact over the years.
For this visual, the x axis is the year the game was released, the y axis is the sum of sales in North America, and the color are the platforms or consoles.
Based on the colors, you can see what year each console was introduced.
Looking at the years, video game sales for Nintendo was at it’s
honestest in 1990 and 2006, oddly enough, in both of these years
Nintendo released video games for a new console. In 1990 the SNES was
introduced and was really popular in the beginning before loosing
popularity. In 2006 the Wii was released and had the highest sales in
North America, before dropping down significantly.
Over the years, it looks like video games sales fluctuated a lot. There were many peaks and valleys between the years 1990 and 2006, but after 2006 the video game sales predominantly decreased. The reason for this could be because from 2006-2009, right after the release of the Wii, America was in a recession (the Great Recession) which I’m sure contributed to video games sales within North America. Video games were not a necessity and were not a priority when people in America were dealing with a recession. However, in 2010, video game sales continued to increase, even when the Wii U was introduced.
What’s interesting about this graph is that you can clearly see which consoles did really well based on video game sales, and which ones did not. NES was the first console introduced and held some ground for the longest time, but when the G was released, it dominated the year it came out. The GC and GBA hardly impacted sales and so did the Wii U after the high of the Wii. The SNES and the Wii really helped to boost video game sales for Nintendo the year they were introduced.
In conclusion, the year appears to have a very random impact on Nintendo video game sales. All in all, it doesn’t appear that video games are that big of necessity in North America and tend to fluctuate yearly. If a recession is going on, video game sales are typically low. If a new console is introduced, sometimes it impacts sales, but sometimes it doesn’t.
Impact of Nintendo Brands
Out of the top 10 video games in North America, 5 of those games were Mario games. When people think of Nintendo, they usually think about Mario and his very popular games. Nintendo is not only known for their Mario games, but they also are known for many other famous game brands such as Pokemon. I want to see how popular game brands with many game titles impact sales.
For this visual, I want to look at game titles that I believe Nintendo is popular for, such as Mario, Pokemon, and Legend of Zelda. Along with these titles, I also want to look at one of my favorite game brands from Nintendo which is Fire Emblem.
Below is a list of data relating to each brand. It shows the number of games each brand has, the sum of sales within North America, and the percent of total sales within North America they account for.
| Total Mario Games | Total North America Sales | Percent of Sales |
|---|---|---|
| 108 | 268.2 | 0.3264044 |
| Total Pokemon Games | Total North America Sales | Percent of Sales |
|---|---|---|
| 36 | 84.18 | 0.1024486 |
| Total Zelda Games | Total North America Sales | Percent of Sales |
|---|---|---|
| 27 | 43.08 | 0.0524292 |
| Total Fire Emblem Games | Total North America Sales | Percent of Sales |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | 3.65 | 0.0044421 |
From the data set, there are 108 Mario games, and they have made $268,200,000 in sales in North America. Mario Games account for 33% of the total sales in North America, which is a lot considering how big the data set is. Pokemon has 36 games, and has made $84,180,000 in sales, accounting for 10% of total sales. Nintendo has made 27 Legend of Zelda games that have sold over 100,000 copies, they made $43,080,000 in North America, and make up 5% of total sales. Now for my favorite brand, there 13 Fire Emblem games, they have made $3,650,000 and 0.4% of total sales.
Based on the data above, Mario games is the most popular Nintendo brand and makes up 33% of total sales within America. Since Mario games had the biggest impact on overall sales, I have decided to investigate the Mario games further. For the following visual, I want to look at the Mario game sales over the years and see their genres.
For this bar graph, the x axis is the year the game was released, y
axis is the total sales in North America, and the color represents the
genre. 
As
we can see from the graph, the Mario games released before 1990 had the
most sales. If we look at the top 10 games sold within North America, we
could assume that game is Super Mario Bros, which was the second most
popular game. The Mario games released from 2007 to 2009 had the second
highest sales. In 2008, Mario Kart was released for the Wii, as
indicated by the blue bar. Considering that Mario Kart Wii was one of
the top 10 games, it makes sense for it to be the second highest. What I
think is interesting is that in 2006, when the Wii was released, Mario
game sales were not that high. One thing to note from this bar chart is
that majority of the Mario games are classified as Platform games. The
Platform genre for Nintendo has the most number of games and the highest
number of sales, which makes sense since Mario, one of the most popular
Nintendo brands, is typically a Platform game.
In conclusion, the brand of the game does tend to play an impact for video game sales in North America. Mario games are Nintendo’s most popular and accounted for 33% of total sales in North America. The Mario games also played a role on the popularity of genres, since Mario has a lot of Platform games and Platform was one of the most popular genres.
Unstructured Text Data
Now that the analysis of the data set has been complete, I am now going to perform another analysis using unstructured data. The unstructured data source I will be using are amazon reviews.
After analyzing the data from the data set above, we learned that the most recent model of the data set, the Wii U, performed extremely poorly in comparison to the other consoles. After the Wii U was released in 2012, Nintendo released the Switch in 2017, which is one of Nintendo’s best selling console and still is to this day. For this analysis, I will be performing a web scrape on Amazon reviews for the Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo Wii U. I will be looking at the keywords used in each review along with the sentiment scores for each console. All reviews collected from Amazon are from users in North America
The data collected from the web scrape include the product name, the rating the review game the game on a scale from 1-5, and the review content, which shows the review the user gave the game console. I scraped 3 pages of Amazon reviews for each console.
Basic Statistics
Before we get into the deeper analysis, here are some basic statistics from the web scrape. This includes the average rating given to the console (value between 1-5), the max rating given to the console, the minimum rating given to the console, and the standard deviation for each console.
| product_name | Average Rating | Max Rating | Min Rating | Standard Deviation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nintendo Switch – OLED Model w/ Neon Red & Neon Blue Joy-Con | 4.8 | 5 | 4 | 0.4068381 |
| Nintendo Wii U Console - 32GB Black Deluxe Set | 4.5 | 5 | 2 | 0.9377155 |
From the reviews retrieved from Amazon, the users gave the Nintendo Switch an average rating of 4.8 out of 5, and gave the Wii U a 4.5 out of 5. Both consoles had a max rating of 5, but the Switch had a minimum rating of 4 while the Wii U had a minimum rating of 2.
The standard deviation is the measure of how dispersed the data is in relation to the mean. If the value is low that means the data is clustered around the mean. If the value is high, that means the data is more spread out. The standard deviation for the Switch is low at 0.4, while the standard deviation for the Wii U is high at 0.9. This means the rating for the Wii U is more spread out around the mean (4.5), while the rating for the Switch is closer to the mean (most values are around 4.8).
Bing Analysis
Next for this analysis is the sentiment analysis. Here, were are looking at the positive and negative words used in the reviews for the Switch and the Wii U. This visual is going to show us what the positive and negative words used with the reviews are, and also shows us how often they occur.
The x axis represents the count for the number of times the word was used, the y axis shows what the words are, and the colors shows is the words are positive or negative. Blue means it is positive, and red means it is negative. For this graph I used the Bing Lexicon.
Based on the sentiment analysis, the Switch has less negative words used
overall. While the Wii U has a larger amount of negative words. Overall,
people had more emotions related to the Wii U than to the Switch. The
top positive words for the Switch were recommend, joy, and love and the
top negative word was overpriced, which makes sense since the Switch is
a very expensive console. For the Wii U, the top positive words were
support, fun, and joy and the top negative word was issues. Issues could
refer to a number of things, such as technical issues, visual issues,
sound issues, or just game issues. The word can also be taken out of
context, such as a review could have said, “there were no issues.”
In general, the Switch is a better model because it had more positive words then negative. The negative words it did have included words such as overpriced and slow, which makes sense based on the common complaints about the Switch. Reviewers had a lot more emotions about the Wii U, and had more negative things to say about it then the Switch. The negative words for the Wii U include issues, dead, broken, complaints, and confusing.
Positivity Score for Each Console based on Rating
Now I want to look at the the positivity score for each console. The positivity score is calculated by subtracting the negative words from the total number of positive words.
In this visual, the x axis represents the rating, the y-axis is the positivity score, and the colors represent the console. Red is for the Switch, and blue is for the Wii U.
Based on the graph, the Switch has a higher positivity score over all.
Since the ratings are primarily between 4 and 5 for the switch, the
positivity score is more likely to be higher. In the 4 rating, the
Switch has a significantly higher positivity score than the Wii U. In
the 5 rating, it has the same score as the Wii U. The Wii U, while it
has the same score as the Switch in the 5 rating, it has a significantly
less positive score in the 4 rating. Based on the graph, the Wii U also
has a very small positivity score under the 2 rating.
This visual suggests that overall, the Switch has a higher positivity rate than the Wii U, which correlates with what we found in the descriptive analysis. In comparison to other consoles, the Wii U is not as popular.
NRC Analysis
For the next analysis, I will be looking at the sentiment score for each product based on the number of emotional words within the reviews.
The x axis is the emotional sentiment, or the list of emotions found within the reviews, the y axis shows the total number of words, and the colors represent the console. Blue is for the Wii U, and red is for the Switch. Here I used the NRC Lexicon
The
emotional words found from the reviews that are listed on the x axis,
are as follows: anger, anticipation, disgust, fear, joy, negative,
positive, sadness, surprise, and trust. Similar to the Sentiment
analysis with the total negative and positive words, more emotions were
shared in the Wii U reviews than the Switch. For ever single emotion,
the Wii U had a larger amount of emotional words than the Switch. In
both consoles, the emotion for positive was the highest values, but Wii
U had the overall highest value at positive.
For the Wii U and the Switch, the top 3 emotions were positive, trust, and anticipation. However, overall, the Wii U had the most emotions compared to the Switch.
Comparing Amazon Rating to Sales
For my final analysis, I am going to compare the Amazon rating for the Wii U to the sales it made in North America. The first table shows the average rating for the Wii U based on the Amazon reviews. The second table shows the number of Wii U games there are in the data set, the amount of sales it made in North America, and the percent of sales it contributed to the total sales in North America.
| Average Rating for Wii U |
|---|
| 4.5 |
| Platform | Total Games | Wii U Sales in North America | Percent of North America Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| WiiU | 42 | 26.75 | 0.0325553 |
As we saw earlier in the data, the Wii U games had the lowest amount of sales in North America compared to the other games for the other consoles. It only had 42 games that sold over 100,000 copies, it made $26,750,000 in sales in North America, which only contributed around 3% for total sales in North America. Despite the low sales, the Wii U had an average of a 4.5 out of 5 rating from Amazon users. Based on the Amazon rating reviews, many people found this console to be above average, at yet it sold the least popular Nintendo games.
Now, this difference in comparison could be for a number of reasons. For starters, I only scraped 3 reviews for each console, so maybe if I had scraped more I would have gotten a different result. The other aspect is that the primary data set I used was based on the video games, and the Amazon reviewers were for the console itself. It’s possible the console wasn’t that bad, but the games just sucked. But at the same time, the negative words associated with the Wii U were very bad, especially in comparison to the Switch. The negative words were used for the switch included issues, complaints, cheap, confusing, and lack, all of which are not great words to describe a video game console. The negative words used to describe the Wii U were nothing like what the Switch got, and could still indicate why the Wii U games had such bad sales in North America.