Nintendo: The Console Wars

<p>In the 1980’s Nintendo was on top of the world, with the NES achieving over 90% market share of home video games globally. So how did they fall ALL the way down to ~10% in just a few short console generations? And how did they then build themselves back up (and down and up again) to the top of the world again? Spoiler: it all hinged on one very small, yet very large and durable platform… the Game Boy. Fire up your favorite portable entertainment device and tune in for the epic story of Nintendo’s fall from grace and journey back to the top — capped off by our robust discussion of where they go from here, and whether this 130+ year old company may still (!) be misunderstood and mis-valued.</p><p><strong>ACQ2 Show + LP Program:</strong></p><ul> <li><a href="https://pod.link/acquiredlp">Subscribe to the shiny new ACQ2!</a></li> <li> <a href="https://acquired.fm/lp">Become an LP</a> and support the show. Help us pick episodes, Zoom calls and more.</li> </ul><p><strong>Sponsors:</strong></p><p>Thanks to our fantastic partners, any member of the Acquired community can now get:</p><ul> <li><a href="https://bit.ly/acquiredpilot23">Pilot: 20% off your company’s first six months of service</a></li> <li><a href="https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta">Vanta: $1,000 off any compliance audit product</a></li> <li> <a href="https://bit.ly/acquiredtiny">…in touch with Tiny!</a> (just tell them Ben &amp; David sent you)</li> </ul><p><strong>Links:</strong></p><ul> <li><a href="https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/the-electronic-arts-ipo-with-trip-hawkins">Our EA episode with Trip Hawkins</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.matthewball.vc/all/onnintendo">Matthew Ball on why “Nintendo as Disney” is a flawed analogy</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.crossroadscap.io/investor-letters">Crossroads Capital’s investor letters outlining their Nintendo thesis</a></li> <li><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uz7J2qyEqLrcbuU5LUrStt4aM2vPvRiIPmKJcLOmQ7s/edit?usp=sharing">Episode sources</a></li> </ul><p><strong>Carve Outs:</strong></p><u