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Nintendo’s first Switch was released in 2017. Now, 8 years later, fans could not wait for #2.
Since entering video game markets, Nintendo knew how to compete.
Nintendo Economics
Nintendo history takes us back to the 1880s when they made Hanafuda themed-playing cards and then added toys. The firm though made a key decision during the 1980s. After a surge in Atari’s popularity, the games market got swamped with junk. Turned off, consumers fled but then along came Mario and the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).
To sell their little gray box, Nintendo told retailers they could pay them after a unit was sold. In addition. the games were really good. Rather than cutting edge technology and super graphics, the company’s characters were friendly. People really liked Mario and Bowser:
Our Bottom Line: Competition’
By a console, we mean a video player that stays at home or is mobile. Dominated by Nintendo, Xbox (Microsoft) and Playstation (Sony), each console has a distinct identity. Typical of oligopolies, the firms are large, market entry and exit are tough, and competitors depend on product differentiation.
As a result, on a competitive market structures scale, the three console makers are definitively in oligopoly territory:
In console markets, firms compete through their controllers, networking possibilities, and the games that compose their software. Also, speed and portability matter. As for revenue, it primarily comes from physical hardware, physical software, digital full games, add-on content, and subscriptions.
Targeting 16-24-year-olds, the firms’ revenue is trending upwards:
Dominated by residential purchases in the U.S., the market is global. A whopping 158.7 million PlayStation 2 units were sold in 2024:
Although their newly available Switch 2 is not as powerful as Sony’s PlayStation or Microsoft’s Xbox, still the anticipation was massive with gamers waiting for hours outside a Nintendo store.
My sources and more: I found a slew of articles but mostly I thank Mason for providing me with the Nintendo facts. From there, NPR had the story and this website had the statistics.
