In May 1999, with the advent of the PlayStation 2,
In 2003, Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance SP, an improved version of the Game Boy Advance that incorporated a folding design, an illuminated display, and a rechargeable battery. By the end of its production cycle in 2010, over 43.5 million units had been sold worldwide. Nintendo also released the Game Boy Player, a peripheral that allows Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games to be played on the GameCube.
Following an announcement in March 2010,
On 11 July 2015, Iwata died of bile duct cancer, and after a couple of months in which Miyamoto and Takeda jointly operated the company, Tatsumi Kimishima was named as Iwata’s successor on 16 September 2015.
The NES Classic Edition was released in November 2016. The console is a redesigned version of the NES that includes support for the HDMI interface and Wiimote compatibility.
Nintendo announced plans in June 2021 to convert its former Uji Ogura plant, where it had previously made playing and Hanafuda cards, into a museum for the company to be completed by the 2023 fiscal year.
Nintendo’s central focus is the research, development, production, and distribution of entertainment products—primarily video game software and hardware and card games. Its main markets are Japan, America, and Europe, and more than 70% of its total sales come from the latter two territories.
Since the launch of the Color TV-Game in 1977, Nintendo has produced and distributed home, handheld, dedicated and hybrid consoles. Each has a variety of accessories and controllers, such as the NES Zapper, the Game Boy Camera, the Super NES Mouse, the Rumble Pak, the Wii MotionPlus, the Wii U Pro Controller, and the Switch Pro Controller.
Nintendo’s first electronic games are arcade games. EVR Race (1975) is the company’s first electromechanical game, and Donkey Kong (1981) is the first platform game in history. Since then, both Nintendo and other development companies have produced and distributed an extensive catalogue of video games for Nintendo’s consoles. Nintendo’s games are sold in both removable media formats such as optical disc and cartridge, and online formats which are distributed via services such as the Nintendo eShop and the Nintendo Network.
Nintendo of America has engaged in several high-profile marketing campaigns to define and position its brand. One of its earliest and most enduring slogans was “Now you’re playing with power!”, used first to promote its Nintendo Entertainment System.
During the peak of Nintendo’s success in the video game industry in the 1990s, its name was ubiquitously used to refer to any video game console, regardless of the manufacturer. To prevent its trademark from becoming generic, Nintendo pushed the term “game console”, and succeeded in preserving its trademark.
The Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development division is the primary software development, production, and supervising division at Nintendo, formed as a merger between their former Entertainment Analysis & Development and Software Planning & Development divisions in 2015. Led by Shinya Takahashi, the division holds the largest concentration of staff at the company, housing more than 800 engineers, producers, directors, coordinators, planners and designers.
The Nintendo Platform Technology Development division is a combination of Nintendo’s former Integrated Research & Development (or IRD) and System Development (or SDD) divisions. Led by Ko Shiota, the division is responsible for designing hardware and developing Nintendo’s operating systems, developer environment, and internal network, and maintenance of the Nintendo Network.
The Nintendo Business Development division was formed following Nintendo’s foray into software development for smart devices such as mobile phones and tablets. It is responsible for refining Nintendo’s business model for the dedicated video game system business, and development for smart devices.