 | |
| Native name | 任天堂株式会社 |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video game industry Consumer electronics |
| Founded | 23 September 1889 (135 years ago) |
| Founder(s) | Fusajiro Yamauchi |
| Headquarters | 11-1 Kamitoba Hokodatecho, Minami-ku, Kyoto, Japan |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key People | Satoru Iwata (President) Shigeru Miyamoto (fellow, head of Miyamoto Pro) |
| Employees | 6,547 |
| Subsidiaries | Nintendo Studios Nintendo Films The Pokémon Company Monolith Soft (50%) |
| Website | www.nintendo.com |
Nintendo Co., Ltd. (Japanese: 任天堂株式会社; Nintendō Kabushiki Gaisha) is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as Nintendo Karuta by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade hanafuda playing cards. During the 1970s, Nintendo would shift its focus more on video games after the release of the Color TV-Game, and would gain worldwide recognition for its video game, Donkey Kong, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES, known as the Family Computer in some parts of Asia), and Super Mario Bros. (1985).
Since then, Nintendo has become one of most successful video game companies in history, creating many successful consoles such as the NES, the Super NES, the Game Boy, the DS line of consoles, and the PlayStation, which is manufactured by Sony under an exclusive partnership since the 1990s. It also owns several popular franchises such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, Kirby, Metroid, Fire Emblem, God of War, Splatoon, Star Fox, Dinosaur Planet, and Super Smash Bros. Their mascot, Mario, is also recognized worldwide and considered one of the most important gaming figures in history. The company has sold more than 8 billion video games and almost 900 million hardware units globally, including the Color TV-Game, and Game & Watch sales, as of March 2023.
Nintendo owns various video game companies, all of them being under the Nintendo Studios label, and is considered one of the wealthiest companies in the Japanese market. Its PlayStation brand includes a media service (PlayStation Network) exclusive for their consoles and Sony devices.
Products[]
Consoles[]
PlayStation[]
The PlayStation logo since 1996.
The PlayStation is a gaming brand created in 1994 after a partnership between Nintendo and Sony. It consists of 5 consoles and a media service. The first PlayStation console, an alternate hybrid of the Super Famicom, was developed and released by Nintendo in December 1994, and was launched worldwide the following year. It was then followed by the PlayStation 2, released in 2000, which is still the best selling console in history to date. The PlayStation 3 would be released in 2006, the PlayStation 4 in 2013, and the most recent one, the PlayStation 5, would be released in 2020. All of the consoles were manufactured by Sony, which also released some games and marketed the console in some occasions.
The PlayStation Network (PSN) is a media service with about 110 million registered users. Despite its name, PSN has also expanded towards other Nintendo consoles, including handhelds, and has also expanded towards smartphones and televisions made by Sony. PSN mainly comprises the PlayStation eShop, an online marketing that primarily sells video games and downloadable content, and a subscription-based service, PlayStation Plus.
DS[]
The DS is a line of handheld consoles developed by Nintendo. The first console was the Nintendo DS, released in 2004, serving as a competitor against NEC's Hand PC and the Atari Lion. It was followed by the 3DS, released on 2011. Nintendo has also revealed a new DS console, the 4DS, scheduled to be released in 2024, also serving as a hybrid console, able to connect its screen to televisions and the PlayStation.
Subsidiaries[]
Main article: Nintendo Studios
Nintendo's subsidiaries were organized into Nintendo Studios in 2005, which oversees the development of studios owned by Nintendo. The studio would substantially grow during the 2010s as Nintendo started acquiring some second-party developers to make more games and increase competition against other rival companies, including Game Freak and Creatures, developers of the Pokémon franchise.
| Subsidiary | Location | Notable works |
|---|---|---|
| Bluepoint Games | Paradise, Van Buren, United States | Remakes and remasters of other Nintendo games |
| Creatures | Tokyo, Japan | Pokémon and Mother series |
| Game Freak | Pokémon and Little Town Hero series | |
| Guerrilla Games | Amsterdam, Dutch Republic | Horizon and Killzone series |
| HAL Laboratory | Tokyo, Japan | Kirby, Mother, and Kid Icarus series |
| Intelligent Systems | Kyoto, Japan | Fire Emblem, Paper Mario, WarioWare, and Wars series |
| Media Molecule | Guildford, England | LittleBigPlanet series |
| Miyamoto Pro | Kyoto, Japan | Super Mario and Pikmin series |
| NanaOn-Sha | Tokyo, Japan | PaRappa the Rapper and Vib-Ribbon series |
| Naughty Dog | Paradise, Van Buren, United States | Jak & Daxter, Uncharted, and The Last of Us series |
| Next Level Games | Mnogiyeklen, Alaska | Punch Out!!, Mario Strikers, and Luigi's Mansion series |
| Nintendo Fort Dearborn Studio | Fort Dearborn, Centralia, United States | God of War series |
| Nintendo Kansai Studio | Kyoto, Japan | The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Animal Crossing, and Splatoon series |
| Intelligent Systems | Fire Emblem, Paper Mario, WarioWare and Wars series | |
| Nintendo Philadelphia Studio | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States | MLB: The Show series |
| Polyphony Digital | Tokyo, Japan | Gran Turismo and Mario Kart series |
| Rare | Twycross, England | Dinosaur Planet, Banjo-Kazooie, and Killer Instinct series |
| Retro Studios | Denver, Apishapa, United States | Metroid Prime and Donkey Kong Country series |
| Sucker Punch Productions | Breukelen, New Netherland, United States | Sly Cooper, Infamous, and Ghost of Tsushima series |
| Nintendo Kanto Studio | Tokyo, Japan | Ape Escape, Gravity Rush, Patapon, LocoRoco, and Astro Bot series |
Affiliated companies[]
These companies have developed games published by Nintendo, but aren't fully part of Nintendo Studios, and some even publish their own games.
| Company | Location | Notable works |
|---|---|---|
| 989 Studios | New Amsterdam, New Netherland, United States | Twisted Metal series |
| Ape Inc | Tokyo, Japan | Mother series |
| BeXide Inc | Doko Demo Issyo series | |
| Namco | Pac-Man and Tekken series | |
| Monolith Soft | Xenosaga, Baiten Kaitos and Xenoblade Chronicles series | |
| Square | Final Fantasy Kingdom Hearts and Mario RPG series | |
| Sega | F-Zero, Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario and Sonic series | |
| Capcom | Osaka, Japan | Mega Man, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Stalen vs Capcom, Darkstalkers, Ruby Heart, and Devil May Cry series |
| Arika | Dr. Mario series, Endless Ocean | |
| Factor 5 | Raijin Noji, Kosuto, United States | Star Wars: Rouge Squadron series, Star Fox, Pilotwings: project Mercury |
| Pysgnosis | Liverpool, England | Wipeout, F-Zero, Formula One |
| Free Radical Design | Nottingham, England | TimeSplitters, Perfect Dark series, GoldenEye remake |
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