Someone pointed me to this Adam Conover and Keza MacDonald podcast episode—Nintendo is Surviving the Collapse of the Game Industry. It’s a pleasant listen. Since the podcast is named Factually!, I feel obligated to point out certain inaccuracies.
- Nintendo never sold rice themselves, but jointly invested in an instant rice company with two other firms.
- Nintendo’s involvement in the “love hotel” business is the stuff of urban legends without any evidence.
- The Yamauchi family only owns <5% of Nintendo, and has no control over the company.
- The galaxy-brained “charging for higher Mario jump” call came from a Hong Kong activist fund, led by an American who served in the IDF. It isn’t representative of major Nintendo investors.
- Conover and MacDonald presented Nintendo’s governance through an exoticized lens. In fact it’s simply steady management, strong culture, and (mostly) patient shareholders.
- No, you cannot listen in Nintendo’s financial briefings.
- Even though Ask the Developer is still a regular feature, they claimed that post-Iwata Nintendo wouldn’t share any development details.
- They’re also wrong about the Nintendo Museum—there is a gallery with historic dev documents. (I’m saying nothing about their colonialist view of “museum”.)
- With no substantiation, Conover and MacDonald recited the meme that Nintendo was somehow more litigious than other companies. As I posted here before, Capcom, Sega, and miHoYo also actively pursue infringements, and those are just the ones I have receipts.
- For two writers earning from residuals and loyalties, they seem to have a tenuous understanding of IP protection. If a character or name is trademarked, the owner is required to enforce the trademark or it may become “generic” or “abandoned”. It’s actually a legal risk to selectively enforce, regardless if the infringer is a fan or makes no money.
It’s fine that people get some facts mixed up in a conversation, but a bit disquieting from someone who only recently published a book on Nintendo history.
[Originally posted on 2026-04-24 Pacific Time]
