A biografia da Nintendo, a empresa que não inventou muito – e mudou tudo

Nintendo, a company that didn't invent much but changed everything, began its journey in Kyoto in 1889 when Fusajiro Yamauchi established a small workshop. At the time, the term "videogame" was yet to be invented. Yamauchi initially produced hanafuda, traditional Japanese playing cards featuring flowers and animals. For over 70 years, Nintendo remained essentially a card manufacturer, with no princesses, magical mushrooms, or gorillas tossing barrels.

Hiroshi Yamauchi, grandson of the founder, took over the business in 1949 at the age of 22 and soon realized the market had limitations. He began exploring new avenues, making several unsuccessful ventures, but also learning valuable lessons about innovation. The key insight was that innovation doesn't always require the latest technology; sometimes, it's about taking an existing technology and creating something new and unexpected.

Gunpei Yokoi, an engineer hired to oversee the factory machines, turned this intuition into a method. He called it "lateral thinking with mature technology." Instead of always relying on the newest chips, most sophisticated screens, or the largest research budgets, Nintendo used affordable and reliable components to create innovative experiences.

This approach was evident in the launch of the Game Boy in 1989. Despite its monochrome display, low power, and lack of visual appeal, the Game Boy offered over fifteen hours of playtime and found its perfect partner in Tetris. While competitors sold technology, Nintendo sold the desire to keep playing. This difference helped explain how a Japanese company of cards could transition from the 19th century to the 21st, navigating successive technological revolutions, witnessing Sega abandon consoles, and facing larger, richer companies like Sony and Microsoft, all while maintaining a technological edge.