Developing the NES: A Long-Term Vision

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Nintendo started a project in the late 70s to develop their first programmable ROM cartridge, swapable software, home video game console
Nintendo aimed to produce a device at least one year ahead of any competitors on the market and sell it for the equivalent of $75
Nintendo aimed to be unit economic positive on every game system sold, contrary to the rest of the industry who subsidized to sell more games
The NES debuted in the US in 1985 and not in Japan until 1983
Nintendo took years to develop the NES and did it all on hard mode

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!

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