Just about everyone has heard of the name, Nintendo. They are one of the largest multinational companies in the world, known for electronics and video games, with their headquarters in Kyoto, Japan. Most people can name some Nintendo games, perhaps the best ones being Mario, Pokémon, and Legend of Zelda, and they also have some of the most popular games consoles ever released, including the N64, the DS and the Gameboy series. The name itself is derived from the Japanese for “Leave luck to heaven” or “the temple of free hanafuda.”
Company History
Nintendo’s humble beginnings can be traced back to September 23rd, 1884, when Fusajiro Yamauchi founded the company. In the beginning, Nintendo was known for producing and selling handmade hanafuda playing cards.
However, things began to change in 1933, when the company was renamed Yamauchi Nintendo & Co. in 1951, the company changed its name once more, this time to Nintendo Playing Card Co. Ltd, reflecting the main business of the company. Aside from Japanese playing cards, Nintendo was also responsible for a bridge tournament that they named the Nintendo Cup.
By the time 1963 rolled around, Nintendo had expanded into several other smaller business areas, including cab services and love hotels. They also renamed the company in 1963 for the last time, calling it the Nintendo Co. Ltd, the name we all know today.
By 1966, Nintendo had undergone further expansion, this time into toys, coming up with several popular Japanese toys such as the Kousenjuu Light Gun game series, the Ultra Machine, and the Love Tester. However, this is where Nintendo began to fail. The market for toys was such that it demanded a high turnover of both development and production times, and Nintendo simply couldn’t keep up. Although their products were successful, they began to fall behind other toy companies, and, for a while, it looked like the game was up for the company, far from it.
The Electronic Era
Nintendo learned their lessons and rose to meet their challenges head-on. In 1974, they came up with their first iteration of a games console, calling it the Magnavox 888Odyssey and, by 1977, they had begun to manufacture hardware. They produced no less than four versions of the Color TV-Game, their very own home video game console.
Nintendo hired a product development student named Shigeru Miyamoto, and he went on to be one of their best business decisions ever, creating, directing, and producing some of the most popular and well-known video games ever released by Nintendo. In 1981, they released Donkey Kong and saw the game become an unprecedented success, increasing their earnings significantly. On the back of that, they opted to bring out the very first Mario game. This game is available on the HappyMod app store.
Over the ten years leading up to 1989, Nintendo got busy, producing the Game & Watch handheld game series, the Famicom (Family Computer), a game console aimed at the Japanese market, and the Gameboy handheld console.
In 1995, the company took its first steps into virtual reality, producing an affordable VR console, but sales were bad, and the concept was not a popular one. It was 2004 before their first real breakthrough came when they released their fourth handheld console, the Nintendo DS. The former President and Chairman of Nintendo, Hiroshi Yamauchi, stated that this console was critical for the company’s success over the next two years, saying that “if it succeeds, we rise to the heavens; if it fails, we sink into hell.” The Nintendo DS was one of their most successful consoles, and that was largely down to two incredibly popular games – Nintendogs and Mario Kart DS.
In 2015, the company entered the smart device gaming market, and by 2016, they had a 32% share of one of the most successful and popular mobile apps ever released – Pokémon Go.
Net Worth
Right now, it is thought that Nintendo’s net worth is in the region of $85 billion, and they currently lie at third place in the ranks of the most valuable Japanese companies. The bulk of their earnings is from software and hardware manufacture/distribution, and this is mostly game consoles, console games, and smart device games.
The Mario Bros games are the most popular, played on a global scale, with Super Mario being one of the most popular gaming characters of all time. Despite their humble beginnings, the company has risen to meet all their challenges, and they look set to continue dominating the market for a long time to come.
