Nintendo achieved something truly amazing with the launch of the Switch. It was able to disrupt itself and the entire gaming industry while saving itself from doom. How exactly was Nintendo able to do it and what comes next in that story? A Little History... Nintendo is a Japanese multinational consumer electronics and video game company with headquarters in Kyoto, Japan. In its annual report for 2021, the company reported a revenue of $16 billion (¥1,759 trillion) and it currently employs around six thousand people around the world across several different business units. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as a company that produced and distributed hanafuda, a traditional Japanese card game. During the first half of the 1900s, the company tried to diversify into several different markets with little to no success (e.g. instant rice, love hotels, and a taxi service). During the 60s to 80s, Nintendo started investing in games, electronic toys, and gaming entertainment. All of these investments culminated in the 90s with the launch of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System which sold around 50 million units worldwide and helped the company enter the US market. By then Nintendo had built several valuable assets in hardware, software, and intellectual property (including the most famous plumber that ever lived, Mario). After the Super Nintendo, the company continued to release new games and gaming devices throughout the 90s and into the 00s, including the Gameboy, Nintendo 64, GameCube, and the Wii in 2006, which contributed to make Nintendo a force to be reckoned in the gaming industry with net sales that peaked at $18 billion in 2009. In 2010, the previous generation of hardware Wii was approaching the end of its life cycle and coincidentally the company’s annual net sales started dropping.

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