TECHNOLOGY
The Nintendo Strategy
The undying success of the Nintendo Switch
In the age of technology, there’s little that stays the same. With each brand in a relentless race to release new and improved smart phones each year, these new products don’t tend to stick around for very long. Their novelty fades fast. The iPhone 14 is the new and exciting smart phone only as long as it takes for the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro to release.
But where planned obsolescence seems to reign supreme in this technological landscape, Nintendo has made a career of products that are built to last. Go ahead and dust off that old N64 or Super Nintendo in the closet if you doubt me. For all of the company’s faults, it’s an area where they deserve all the credit they get. But more than built to last, the games these consoles run are timeless.
While the nostalgic value of our video games is widely open to debate, Nintendo’s driving force has always appeared to be the fun factor before all else. Microsoft and Sony have been releasing more powerful consoles than Nintendo since they first began releasing consoles. That Nintendo has remained such a dominant force in the video game industry even as its hardware limitations have grown increasingly glaring says volumes about the company’s focus. Stacked up with the likes of the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S…
