Nintendo Co., Ltd. (任天堂株式会社 Nintendō Kabushiki gaisha^?) is a Japanese multinational consumer electronics company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. Nintendo is the world's largest video game company by revenue.^[8] Founded on September 23, 1889^[2] by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it originally produced handmade hanafudaplaying cards.^[9] By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as cab services and love hotels.^[10]

Abandoning previous ventures in favor of toys in the 1960s, Nintendo then developed into a video game company in the 1970s, ultimately becoming one of the most influential in the industry and Japan's third most valuable listed company with a market value of over US$85 billion.^[11] Nintendo of America is also the majority owner of theSeattle Mariners Major League Baseball team.^[12]

Nintendo Co., Ltd. (任天堂株式会社 Nintendō Kabushiki gaisha^?) is a Japanese multinational consumer electronics company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. Nintendo is the world's largest video game company by revenue.^[8] Founded on September 23, 1889^[2] by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it originally produced handmade hanafudaplaying cards.^[9] By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as cab services and love hotels.^[10]

Abandoning previous ventures in favor of toys in the 1960s, Nintendo then developed into a video game company in the 1970s, ultimately becoming one of the most influential in the industry and Japan's third most valuable listed company with a market value of over US$85 billion.^[11] Nintendo of America is also the majority owner of theSeattle Mariners Major League Baseball team.^[12]

The name Nintendo can be roughly translated from Japanese to English as "leave luck to heaven."^[13] As of March 31, 2014, Nintendo reports historically cumulative sales of over 670.43 million hardware units and 4.23 billion software units.