The secret to Nintendo's success

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Nintendo has been a titan in the video game industry for decades, but that wasn't always the case. At its very core, Nintendo sees itself as a toy company which is evident in its products from the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) to the Nintendo Switch 2.

Today on the show, we explore Nintendo's history and examine how a small playing card company in Japan became a multimedia giant.

Related episodes:
Forever games: the economics of the live service model
Designing for disability: how video games become more accessible
The boom and bust of esports
Work. Crunch. Repeat: Why gaming demands so much of its employees
Video Game Industry Week: The Final Level

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	NPR.
0:11.4	In the world of consumer electronics, being number one is usually an advantage.
0:17.2	Like, if your product has the newest tech, the most features, the fastest processors,
0:22.5	chances are people will line up to buy it.
0:25.3	Sometimes, though, it pays not to be number one.
0:28.5	Take Nintendo.
0:30.1	Earlier this month, it released its latest console, the Switch 2.
0:33.9	Now, as a piece of video game machinery, the new switch is nowhere near as powerful as its competitors,
0:39.9	like the Sony PlayStation or the Microsoft Xbox. And yet, when the Switch 2 was released a little over a week ago,
0:46.9	gamers in New York camped out on the sidewalk outside a Nintendo store for hours just to snag one.
0:57.1	She's been here since 1230.
0:59.7	Oh my God.
1:01.2	So much longer than I thought.
1:03.0	I've been here for now 18 days, and me and my buddy, Chris and or Chicken Dog, have been planning this for two years.
1:11.3	Chicken Dog is such a great name.
1:13.6	Anyway, despite the hype around this new product, today's episode is not about the Switch
1:18.9	2, because we think that the story of Nintendo itself is a lot more interesting.
1:24.7	This is the indicator for Planet Money. I'm Adrienne Ma.
1:27.6	And it's Semi, Whalen Wong. Today on the indicator for Planet Money. I'm Adrienne Ma. And it's Semiya, Wei Luang!
1:29.8	Today on the show, the business strategy that transformed Nintendo from a tiny Japanese
1:35.0	toy company to a global brand that includes games and movies and even theme parks.
1:40.9	And how Nintendo reinvented the video game industry by not being number one.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 14 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.