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The Main Difference Between Nintendo and Apple Is Self-Awareness—A 2013 Argument Revisited

A 2013 opinion essay argued Nintendo’s business was bigger than its consoles. Nintendo’s current description combines dedicated platforms with efforts to extend its IP beyond games.

By VGSources Team 3 min read
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The title’s “self-awareness” claim comes from a 2013 opinion essay, not a current, measured comparison of Nintendo and Apple. Its central idea was that a company should distinguish the business it is building from the particular products it sells: the essay saw Nintendo’s characters and the experiences built around them as more fundamental than any one console. Nintendo’s current description of its business gives that argument a useful modern counterpoint: it puts dedicated hardware-software platforms at the center while also extending its entertainment and intellectual property beyond games.

What the 2013 essay meant by “self-awareness”

Published on August 29, 2013, the essay responded to calls for Nintendo to make games for iPhone and iPad. It argued that “Nintendo should move to iOS” was an easy answer that overlooked the distinction between a company’s underlying business and the product through which it reaches customers. The author used Apple’s treatment of the Mac as an example of a product not being synonymous with the whole business, then applied that distinction to Nintendo.

In the essay’s view, Nintendo’s deeper business was its characters and the gaming experiences created around them—not simply the consoles on which those experiences appeared. That diagnosis is the author’s interpretation, rather than an objective measure of either company’s self-awareness. Read the 2013 essay.

Why the essay rejected a simple move to iOS

The essay did not argue that Nintendo’s games or characters lacked value on other devices. It challenged the idea that moving games to Apple’s mobile platform was an obvious fix for Nintendo’s business. It quoted Federico Viticci of MacStories: “Saying that Nintendo should shut everything down, go home, and start making games for iOS is an easy but flawed solution that just isn’t supported by the facts.” That quotation records Viticci’s argument as reproduced in the essay; it is not a current assessment of Nintendo’s strategy.

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The piece also floated an alternative: Nintendo could leave the console business but remain in hardware, perhaps through dedicated controllers bundled with its character properties. This was a proposal, not evidence of a Nintendo plan. Likewise, the essay’s prediction that dedicated consoles and handhelds had no future belongs to its 2013 context, not to present-day market analysis.

How Nintendo describes its business today

Nintendo’s official president message presents the company as an entertainment company delivering original entertainment, predominantly through integrated hardware-software dedicated video game platforms. It identifies Nintendo Switch 2 as its current globally marketed dedicated platform. That puts hardware and software together at the core of Nintendo’s own account, rather than treating the console as a disposable shell around the company’s characters.

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At the same time, Nintendo describes extending its entertainment beyond games through films and video, mobile apps, character merchandise, and real-world experiences. Nintendo Accounts are intended to help sustain relationships with consumers across generations. The company says: “All of these business activities are guided by two principles: ‘grow the Nintendo IP fanbase’ and ‘foster long-term relationships with consumers.’” Read Nintendo’s president message.

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What the comparison can—and cannot—show

The 2013 essay’s comparison is best understood as a distinction between business identity and product choice. It proposed that Nintendo could preserve what mattered most about its business even if the device or distribution channel changed. Nintendo’s current positioning adds an important qualification: the company describes its dedicated platforms as central while also seeking to connect its intellectual property with audiences through other formats and experiences.

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Those two framings are not necessarily contradictory. Nintendo can treat integrated consoles as a core part of its entertainment business and still develop ways for people to encounter its characters beyond those consoles. The official message establishes how Nintendo currently describes its own approach; it does not prove the essay’s diagnosis, nor does it establish how Apple currently understands its business. The available evidence supports no up-to-date verdict that one company is more self-aware than the other.

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