If you can’t defeat your enemy, make yourself even more different from him
The Japanese multinational, now valued at 42.6 billion euros, bases its success on loyalty to a catalog that is repeated from generation to generation.
Nintendo is one of the historical names in the video game industry. Founded in Kyoto in 1889 as a brand of playing cards, its technological adventure has always been distinguished by a special philosophy, as if directly comparable to now (back when he was a manufacturer Hardware) or Sony And Microsoft (now) borders on bad taste.
The console drive does not respond to the same cycles as other consumer electronics products. Yeah Manzana, Google or Samsung they renew their families smartphones Every year in March 2017, the Nintendo Switch, the gaming brand of the Japanese house, appears on the market and continues to be its main attraction today. At the end of 2023, 139 million units of this car were sold. That pace also applies to its competitors: Sony’s PS4 debuted in November 2013, only to be eclipsed by its successor in November 2020.
The most prestigious studios have millions of euros to produce games that expand the technical capabilities of consoles. Gran Turismo 7, one of the most popular PS5 games, was developed by Polyphony Digital and cost around $69 million (€64.3 million). Nintendo’s checkbook won’t fade a bit if you choose a direct comparison: the last part Zelda saga (Tears of the Kingdom) exceeded the barrier of 112 million euros.
How streaming
Perhaps the biggest difference is in the catalogue. Nintendo has always been faithful to a small group of works. The undisputed king, thanks to his fame and wealth, Super Marioand the model applied here holds true for other jewels in the crown: starting with the prehistory of the NES, the 8-bit console that released in 1983 and sent shivers through digital natives, a series of sorts is built Game of Thrones or, more precisely, to the walking Dead. Essentially, this strategy refers to a potentially never-ending narrative in which each new generation of consoles releases more or less similar games, including minor innovations and (sometimes) taking advantage of the capabilities of a more powerful GPU.
Along with Super Mario, by-products some of their relatives and friends: Luigi, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Princess Peach or the evil Wario. Moreover, slowly but surely, Nintendo has managed to create several different products, starting with Zelda, an RPG that in its latest installments veers a little more towards action, and ending with Metroid, Pikmin, Platoon or Star Fox.
Everything goes according to plan
According to Dealroom, Nintendo has a market value of €42.6 billion. In 2023, Statista adds, its staff will number more than 7,300 specialists. These are beautiful figures, but they pale when you look at the size of the other two main players in the video game from a dual angle. Hardware And software. Microsoft is worth 2.9 billion euros and Sony 108 billion.
Trying to compete with such behemoths would be corporate suicide. Instead of sacrificing itself, Nintendo chose to exit the technological race by offering a console that was modest in features and
very focused on preserving the company’s roots. This DNA preaches playability over pyrotechnics, and reaches a general audience that is younger than those who approach it. Read Dead Redemption 2. or Last of usand repeats the saints of Mario-Zelda and arch-enemy Bowser-Ganondorf like a mantra. The only problem is the abandonment felt by those who were attracted to these games in the 80s and 90s, but now, in adulthood, in their forties and fifties, they are surprised to see the same cast of colorful characters, who once seduced them.