Nintendo

Nintendo
Nintendo's logo since 2016
Location	Kyoto, Japan
Founded	23 September 1889
CEO	Shuntaro Furukawa

Nintendo Co., Ltd. (任天堂株式会社 (ニンテンドーかぶしきがいしゃ)) is a video game developer and video game console manufacturer based in Kyoto, Japan, with overseas divisions in the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia. The company's Japanese name can be loosely translated as "leave luck to Heaven". It is well known for franchises such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Pokémon, among many others.

It was founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi in 1889 as a manufacturer of playing cards called "hanafuda cards". Its current president is Shuntaro Furukawa. Not only is Nintendo the longest running and one of the most influential video game console companies, it is also one of the richest companies in Japan with a total revenue of $13.923 billion.

Over time, Nintendo has manufactured six home video game consoles: the Famicom/NES, the Super Famicom/Super NES, the Nintendo 64, the Nintendo GameCube, the Wii, the Wii U and the Nintendo Switch. They have also manufactured many handheld gaming consoles, including the Virtual Boy, six versions of the Game Boy, and four versions of the Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS.

Nintendo and Xenoblade

Nintendo developed a positive relationship with Monolith Soft after producing Baten Kaitos Origins in 2006 and would acquire them from Namco in April of 2007: Nintendo became the majority owner of Monolith Soft with 80% of shares, while Bandai Namco retained 16% until 2012, when Nintendo got 96% of Monolith's shares. With Nintendo, Monolith Soft developed titles like Soma Bringer and Disaster: Day of Crisis and they assisted with the development of Super Smash Bros Brawl.

In 2007, when Xeno series director Tetsuya Takahashi first proposed Xenoblade Chronicles, Nintendo accepted the project and the team began development. When Takahashi went to Hitoshi Yamagami with the idea of cutting content of the game due to deadlines, Yamagami decided to extend the development. Satoru Iwata, the then-CEO of Nintendo, changed the name of the project from Monado: Beginning of the World to Xenoblade Chronicles in order to honor Takahashi's previous works.

After the success of the first Xenoblade Chronicles entry, Takahashi approached Yamagami to ask if he could develop a new Xenoblade Chronicles with a science fiction theme. Yamagami gave the green light, resulting in Xenoblade Chronicles X, and the relationship between Nintendo and Monolith Soft would deepen.

In 2024, Nintendo gained full ownership of Monolith Soft, obtaining the remaining 4% of the company.

Nintendo trusts deeply in the sales of Xenoblade Chronicles, to the point of substantially highlighting the series' games during Nintendo Directs (either the first or the last announcement of the Direct), such as Xenoblade Chronicles 2 being the introductory game for the E3 2017 and the Nintendo Direct from 13 September 2017, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition being the final game of the Nintendo Direct from 4 September 2019, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 being the final game of the Nintendo Direct from 9 February 2022. Furthermore, Nintendo did two Nintendo Directs entirely focused on Xenoblade games: one for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on 7 November 2017, and one for Xenoblade Chronicles 3 on 22 June 2022.

Nintendo often receives development support from Monolith Soft in various games such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, all games in the Splatoon series, and Animal Crossing New Horizons and New Leaf.

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