Industry Analysis Case Study

Gaming Market: Nintendo's Struggles

OR

Abstract:
Nintendo Co. Ltd., a pioneer and one of the leading producers of video games in the world, rose to fame in 1989 after it introduced the first-ever portable handheld gaming device called GameBoy. After producing a series of video games, the company's products attained a cult status among pre-teens. However, the company that heralded the gaming revolution in the 1980s and 1990s, had to face severe competition from Sony and Microsoft. In spite of being an early entrant, Nintendo struggled to maintain its leadership at the turn of the millennium and hoped to combat the competition with the release of GameCube.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To discuss how Nintendo can combat the competition it encountered in the video games market, especially from Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox
• To understand how the gaming market assumed prominence in the 1990s and how dominance of the established players like Nintendo came under threat with the entry of new competitors that sensed a big opportunity in the growing market for video games.

Keywords : Nintendo; Sony; Microsoft; GameCube; GameBoy; GameBoy Advance; PlayStation; XBox; Managing in Troubled Times Case Study; Gaming market; Nintendo's struggles in gaming market; Video games; Technology; Genre trends in gaming market; Satoru Iwata