Nintendo

Nintendo is a multinational corporation founded on September 23, 1889 in Kyoto, Japan by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards. In the mid-twentieth century, the company tried several small niche businesses, such as a love hotel and a taxi company. Over the years, it became a video game company, growing into one of the most powerful in the industry.

The people the other companies are targeting are very limited to those who are red-link high-tech oriented, and core game players. They cannot expand beyond that population. We are trying to capture the widest possible audience all around the world. (He cited the example of Nintendogs, a new virtual pet game for the Nintendo DS handheld machine that has taken off in Japan.) In other words, we are trying to capture the people who are even beyond the gaming population. So for that kind of company, we don't think the term "niche" is appropriate. ~ Satoru Iwata

Nintendo, though, prefers to compare itself to Walt Disney Co. rather than International Business Machines or Apple Computer. And if it can maintain anything near its recent success, the most important U.S. entertainment company owned by a Japanese firm may not, in the future, be located in Hollywood. ~ Jonathan Weber

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A game that keeps a smile on the player's face is a wonderful thing. Nintendo's theme for 2006 will be 'Create new fun.' Spread the fun of games to everyone. To do this, we must return to the beginning, to recapture the essence that made people who enjoy games even now enjoy them in the first place. ~ Shigeru Miyamoto

Due to inherent difficulties in translating Japanese to English, the company's quotations have been grossly misconstrued.

Quotes

• Nintendo is described much as Apple is today: obsessed with quality even at the expense of development speed, overbearing toward retailers and software developers, and highly litigious. Sega, like the free Android smartphone software Google pits against the iPhone, succeeded by offering friendlier terms to Nintendo's partners.
  • Tim Bradshaw, "'Console Wars' revisits the '90s clash between Sega and Nintendo" LA Times, (Aug, 24, 2014).

• "ATTENTION NINTENDO CONSOLE OWNERS" say the ads running these past two weeks in newspapers and magazines. It seems Nintendo of America was sued by the attorneys general of all 50 states and the District of Columbia for allegedly fixing the price at which retailers could sell its game machines, or "consoles." To make amends for any overcharges, Nintendo is now offering "significant relief" to all who bought between June, 1988, and December, 1990.
  To government, significant relief is $5, though it's not much to people who paid $99.95 for a console set, and hundreds more for games ($20 to $60 each). They must spend more yet to get it: The relief isn't money, but a coupon for $5 off the purchase of more Nintendo games.
  • S. J. Diamond, "Nintendo Wins at Settlement Game", LA Times, (July 26, 1991.)

• In February, 1989, Atari filed a $250-million suit against its huge rival, alleging that it has violated antitrust laws by preventing designers of software for its game consoles from selling their wares for other systems. Nintendo has said the suit is "meritless."
  • Martha Groves, "On Nintendo : Games: Atari may be crazy to confront the Japanese giant. But it plans to slug it out anyway.”, LA Times, (April 30, 1990).

• A game that keeps a smile on the player's face is a wonderful thing. Nintendo's theme for 2006 will be 'Create new fun.' Spread the fun of games to everyone. To do this, we must return to the beginning, to recapture the essence that made people who enjoy games even now enjoy them in the first place.
  • Shigeru Miyamoto, Famitsu ^{[citation needed]}

• Our competitors are always saying that Nintendo is just for children. To counter that, what we really need to do is explain to customers and potential customers [that we do not just make games for kids]."
  • Satoru Iwata in Kent, Steven L.. "Nintendo's New Direction" p. 2. GameSpy. Retrieved on 2007-03-03.

• Iwata: In the first place, Sony and Microsoft are taking about the same approach for the future by making machines with powerful and sophisticated technology. Nintendo is taking a little bit different approach, and I think this is an interesting contrast.
  Of course, we are applying advances in technology. But when you use those advances just to boost the processing power, the trade-off is that you increase power consumption, make the machine more expensive and make developing games more expensive. When I look at the balance of that trade-off -- what you gain and what you lose -- I don't think it's good. Nintendo is applying the benefits of advanced technology, but we're using it to make our machines more power-efficient, quieter and faster to start. And we're making a brand-new user interface. I think that way of thinking is the biggest difference.
• Q: Bill Gates said recently that he thinks Nintendo will be more of a niche player in the future, with Sony and Microsoft battling for the number one spot. What do you think of that characterization?

Iwata: Talking about the definition of the niche, or niche market, I really have the completely opposite opinion. The people the other companies are targeting are very limited to those who are high-tech oriented, and core game players. They cannot expand beyond that population. We are trying to capture the widest possible audience all around the world. (He cited the example of Nintendogs, a new virtual pet game for the Nintendo DS handheld machine that has taken off in Japan.) In other words, we are trying to capture the people who are even beyond the gaming population. So for that kind of company, we don't think the term "niche" is appropriate.

• Iwata: First of all, I've never once been embarrassed that children have supported Nintendo. I'm proud of it. That's because children judge products based on instinct. Everyone wants to appeal to people's instincts, but it's not easy. That doesn't mean we're making products just for children. We believe that there's interactive entertainment that people in their 60s, 70s and 80s can enjoy, so we're doing various things.

  Satoru Iwata, "Q&A: Video-game industry maverick promises a Revolution" by Todd Bishop, Seattle Post, (May 19, 2005).

• Meanwhile, Nintendo holds such a commanding lead in the American computer game market that it is occasionally accused of monopolistic practices. Last December, for example, Rep. Dennis Eckhart (D-Ohio) asked the Justice Department's antitrust division to investigate Nintendo's "significant intimidation in the retail market," which supposedly stifles competition.
  • Karl Schoenberger, "Nintendo to Fund Learning Project at MIT", LA Times, (May 16, 1990).

• Nintendo, though, prefers to compare itself to Walt Disney Co. rather than International Business Machines or Apple Computer. And if it can maintain anything near its recent success, the most important U.S. entertainment company owned by a Japanese firm may not, in the future, be located in Hollywood.
  • Jonathan Weber, "Video Game Maker Nintendo Is Facing New Challenges", LA Times, (January 14, 1991).

• We teamed up with MIT's Media Lab because we want to go beyond entertainment. We think children ought to learn while they're having fun.
  • Hiroshi Yamauchi in "Nintendo to Fund Learning Project at MIT", Karl Schoenberger, LA Times, (May 16, 1990).

• There's a whole culture that was established at Nintendo of humility in the face of the enormity of game design, and it's a very respectful approach to the field.
  • Mike Bithell in Zelda & Players Over-Thinking Puzzles | Play, Watch, Listen #133, Play, Watch, Listen podcast, (May 31, 2023).

Nintendo DS

• If we can increase the scope of the industry, we can re-energise the global market and lift Japan out of depression - that is Nintendo's mission.". Regarding lukewarm GameCube sales which had yielded the company's first reported operating loss in over 100 years, Yamauchi continued: "The DS represents a critical moment for Nintendo's success over the next two years. If it succeeds, we rise to the heavens, if it fails, we sink into hell."

Wii

• I suppose I could give you a list of the technical specs. I believe you would like that, but I won't for a simple reason: they really don't matter.
  • Satoru Iwata [1]