Allow us to ask you a simple yet profound question, “How is Nintendo the longest-lasting video game company ever?” And don’t say Atari; they haven’t been relevant in a long time. The answer is honestly really simple: They’ve built up a library of epic IP and have spent nearly 40 years making as many quality titles as possible for them. You might think they would need to “adapt to the current market” to be successful, but as President Shuntaro Furukawa noted in the recent financial briefing, that’s not really the case.
A translation of the briefing revealed this quote from Shuntaro Furukawa:
“We believe that the growth of Nintendo IP has been due more than anything else to the many people around the world playing and enjoying our games. Nintendo has carefully crafted each title to align with the characteristics of the IP. This approach to software development has remained consistent since we first developed titles for Nintendo Entertainment System.”
If you think about…that really is what The Big N has been all about. They even did the “Nintendo Seal of Approval” during the NES days to ensure that gamers knew that the games on the platform was quality. Ironically, the issues that the company has had over the years hasn’t been about software, but hardware, like with the Wii U, Virtual Boy, and the GameCube to a lesser extent.
Now, Nintendo has obviously evolved its franchises over the years, including with recent games in The Legend of Zelda, Kirby, Mario, Pikmin, and beyond. Yet, even with these changes, it’s still the beloved IP that you all know, just with a different vibe. If The Big N can keep this going with its next platform, a similar success will come with it.
