Lundy-Johnson, Michelle
Case 24 Nintendo
By: Michelle Johnson
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Lundy-Johnson, Michelle
COMPANY NAME, WEBSITE, and INDUSTRY
Nintendo,
, and gaming.
BACKGROUND and HISTORY
Nintendo Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational consumer electronics and video game
company. Founder: Fusajiro Yamauchi Founded: September 23, 1889, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture,
Japan CEO: Shuntaro Furukawa (Jun 2018–) Headquarters: Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Nintendo is the world’s oldest video-game company. The company is actively operating
in the video-game market as one of the dominant companies in the gaming industry. Nintendo is
affected by the external environment as there are significant changes in the overall gaming
industry. For instance, policies are applied in Japan to curb the sales of violent games to minors.
There are also changes in the demographics of gamers where there is an increase in adult and
female gamers. Technological developments had also made smartphones a strong competitor for
Nintendo’s video-game consoles. The threat of small gaming companies and the shift to
smartphones for gaming purposes have a huge effect on Nintendo as their market share might be
reduced. Lastly, the intense competition between Nintendo and its two competitors, Sony and
Microsoft provides Nintendo with a challenge. One of Nintendo’s strengths is that it is an
established company and consumers are aware of the brand. Nintendo often uses nostalgia to
promote its products as the company has a very long history. However, this strategy might
backfire as overdependence on their iconic characters like Super Mario might not be so effective
due to its decreasing economic life-span. Nintendo’s target market is mainly millennials but their
products are usually enjoyed by the whole family due to the company’s family-friendly policy.
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Lundy-Johnson, Michelle
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Lundy-Johnson, Michelle
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Lundy-Johnson, Michelle
The company was founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi in 1889 and it officially went public in
1962 (Erbland 2014). Nintendo, originally known as “Nintendo Koppai”, is the oldest video-
game company in the world which first started as a small business in Kyoto that sells Japanese
flower cards named “Hanafuda” (Jones 2013).
Before entering the gaming industry, Nintendo
had expanded its business in several other industries, but none of these business ventures brought
any success to the organisation. In 1985, Nintendo released its first video-game console, the
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- Spring '11
- Hodges
- Nintendo
