Atari's Famicom, Atari of America, Nintendo of America

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Atari and Warner's are keeping these negotiations going just to keep Nintendo tied up. Atari reports a $283 million loss as part of Warner's earnings in TQ 1983 and the third quarter. A year before, I think like we said at the top of the episode, Atari had been half of Warner Brothers entire revenue and 60% of its operating income. And now it's reporting a $536 million quarterly loss. So this probably would have happened. This definitely would have happened if the timing were different."

You may think you know the Nintendo story: a plumber named Mario, a princess named Zelda… and didn’t they buy the Seattle Mariners at some point? We thought we knew it too. And then we started researching and were blown away.

The lovable Disney-like Nintendo that we know today is a 130 year-old a playing card company (i.e. gambling), forged in the shadowy world of the Yakuza and shaped by a four-generation cycle of bitter family betrayal. And its unlikely transformation into a global multi-billion dollar media monopoly was led by an iron-fisted patriarch who — amazingly — never played a video game in his life! Get ready for one of our favorite stories Acquired has ever told — we couldn’t make this one up if we tried!

ACQ2 Show: