Bump.
Hardware Sales
In the March 1997 issue of RePlay Magazine SNK USA, when doing a recap of SNK history, stated that Neo Geo had an install base of over 1.10 million units worldwide.
The problem is that it isn't clear if they were including everything Neo Geo related (MVS, AES, CD) or only MVS.
RePlay Magazine was a magazine for arcade operators and the article was clearly aimed at them so my guess is that it was indeed referring to Neo Geo MVS with that sales figure.
My guess was further supported by what SNK Corporation have written in their "Company Profile 1996" pamphlet:
"[MVS] Popular in our domestic market of Japan and continuing to grow in the limitless overseas markets since its inception, the NEO GEO MVS has more units in operation than any amusement machine in the world, rapidly approaching 1 million sold worldwide."
A bit contradicting with what they stated in March 1997, the same SNK USA said in the March 1998 issue of RePlay Magazine that there were 1 million Neo Geos worldwide (with over 50K in USA).
I think it's safe to assume that Neo Geo MVS final install base to be around 1.00-1.10 million units worldwide.
On the Neo Geo home consoles front the situation is more defined in fact total sales of Neo Geo home consoles is known thanks to Console Plus issue 73 (a french videogame magazine) which reported the total shipment of Neo Geo home consoles as September 1997.
In total there were 0.98M Neo Geo home consoles sold as September 1997 with the following split:
Neo Geo AES + Neo Geo CD
Japan: 0.80M
Overseas: 0.18M
Worldwide: 0.98M
Neo Geo AES
Japan: 0.35M
Overseas: 0.06M
Worldwide: 0.41M
Neo Geo CD
Japan: 0.45M
Overseas: 0.12M
Worldwide: 0.57M
Software Sales
As for the software sales I haven't found any information regarding MVS carts though SNK USA when singling out the most popular franchises for Neo Geo cited Samurai Showdown, King of Fighters, Metal Slug, Fatal Fury and Bust-a-move (RePlay Magazine, March 1998).
My personal guess is that Fatal Fury Special, Samurai Shodown 2 and King of Fighters 95 were the best selling MVS games.
On the home consoles front for the software sales the situation is again a bit clearer.
SNK stated that the home conversions (for every consoles) of King of Fighters 95 was the only SNK game to have sold a million units.
Other software sales estimates for Neo Geo home consoles for the japanese market provided by Famitsu (but only for games released from late '94 on ward) are available at the following link:
https://sites.google.com/site/gamedatalibrary/games-by-platform/neogeo
SNK Financial Data
The following financial data was pulled directly from SNK official website (fiscal years ending September 1996 on ward) or SNK Corporation company promotional video (for the fiscal years between FY ending September 1991 and FY ending September 1995)
Gross sales 17.50 billion yen (
fiscal year ended September 1991)
Number of Employees 340 As 1991
Gross sales 26.25 billion yen (
fiscal year ended September 1992)
Number of Employees 500 As 1992
Gross sales 50.00 billion yen (
fiscal year ended September 1993) —projected, not actual
Number of Employees 750 As 1993 —actual
Gross sales 75.00 billion yen (
fiscal year ended September 1994) —projected, not actual
Number of Employees 850 As 1994 —actual
Gross sales 110.00 billion yen (
fiscal year ended September 1995) —projected, not actual
Number of Employees 1000 As 1995 —actual
Capital 3,873,710,000 yen
Established July 1978
Net sales 37.18 billion yen (
fiscal year ended September 1996)
Number of Employees 927 As of September 30, 1996
Number of Employees 1091 (847 men / 244 female) As of April 30, 1997
Capital 6,700,625,000 yen (changed on February 9, 2000)
Establishment July 22, 1978
Net sales 33.745 billion yen (
fiscal year ending March 31, 1999)
Number of employees 1066: Male 864 / Female 202 (As of the end of March 2000)
Capital 6,719.6 million yen (changed on February 9, 2000)
Establishment July 22, 1978
Net sales 30.483 billion yen (
fiscal year ending March 2000)
Number of employees 1066: Male 864 / Female 202 (As of the end of March 2000)
SNK promotional video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1yyAA1wgDE
