Did Nintendo "really" save the video game industry in the 80s?

[Deathknightish]

People give Nintendo praise for saving the industry from the crash, but is it really that simple?

To me, I eel that video games were an inevitable outcome because of how techology evolved, and even if Nintendo hadn't been there, video games would've seen a rise in popularity again, simply because people like being entertained on their free time. Games in different forms have existed for thousands of years, so even if the industry saw a dip in the early 80s I just can't see how even if Nintendo didn't exist that video games wouldn't have found their way back again.

[Caerule]

Maybe you are right and it would have been an eventual inevitability.

I still think it's legitimate to say though. I mean, without Einstein, someone else would have come up with the equations he did eventually. That doesn't lesson his contributions. He is still the one that was the pioneer, impacting and shaping the world, giving rise to a lot of things, at the time that they happened.

How the timeline would have looked like without Nintendo shaping the culture as they did is hard to say. If they hadn't jumped in, maybe there would have been a crash for a while. Would there have been a successful comic book movie cinematic universe without Marvel eventually? Probably. But they were still the ones to do it first, at the time that they did. Credit where it's due.

[Krawu]

I think thanks to Nintendo we ended up having up one of the better timelines for technology.

When they stepped into the market people were severely burned out, there was no instance for quality control and video games in general were regarded more like an odd offshoot of the toys industry rather than its own thing.
Nintendo introduced strict quality controls for its brand, allowing people to trust in getting their moneys' worth again. They kept pushing video games forward when nobody else was willing to invest in them. Many stores in America didn't even want to stock Nintendos product until they were ensured that they only had to pay for what they sold AFTER selling it, which meant no upfront money for Nintendo.

Yes the industry would've probably recovered eventually, but I doubt it would've been as good or popular as it ended up being because of Nintendo.

[azkhane]

No, period. The industry was alive and well in europe and japan, it only "died" in USA, atari was only big in USA a "small" market in the time. Europe and Japan had a variery of different systems aside from nintento and a better ecosystem, nintendo just filled the void alongside sega that atari left in the USA

[Fixxit the Gnome]

It's safe to say that Nintendo saved console gaming, but not exactly video games. Home computers became more popular around the same time.

[Dhrizzle]

In Europe we had a strong home computer market with games being produced by small companies and bedroom programmers alongside the larger companies. Nintendo on the other hand favoured games that were made by companies large enough to afford their licensing and cartridge manufacture.

[Mechazod]

The nes saved the console industry in the United states. Other markets or countries were not nearly as effected by it.

[Northern Goblin]

Console gaming yes, gaming in general no.

Commodore and Amstrad among others were still going strong in Europe.

[Tech614]

No, but they helped turn gaming into what it was. Without Nintendo games would of mostly evolved from Arcade and PC gaming and as a result the market would be different now. Nintendo also created curation which the industry was in desperate need of at the time following the atari.

[PACOX]

Nintendo simply kept the momentum going. They did give us the PlayStation though.

[A Chozo]

Yes.

Also they helped make games have stories and what else, otherwise it would all be about High Scores.

The biggest thing Nintendo did for the industry was to have a licensing program that helped ensure games were ET.

Good ol' Nintendo Seal of Quality or... whatever was it's name.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Sure, something else might have came along later. Probably without a doubt. But they kind of were the one that came long and pulled it back up by the boot straps to get it back on its feet again to the mainstream. I would say Sega is often over looked in this era too because it was a healthy competition though the mid 80s into the 90s for Nintendo before the next generation of console makers hit the scene. But Nintendo did the first moves and the heavy lifting. They deserve the credit they get for it and have like unlimited money because of it.

[Dax1983]

No they didn't.

[Darththeo]

No, period. The industry was alive and well in europe and japan, it only "died" in USA, atari was only big in USA a "small" market in the time. Europe and Japan had a variery of different systems aside from nintento and a better ecosystem, nintendo just filled the void alongside sega that atari left in the USA

Yes, because one market making the global game revenue drop from 42 Billion to 17 Billion is totally small.

Nintendo may not be the only reason it was saved, but their decisions and actions are part of the reason we have the games we do now. No Nintendo console? No Playstation. It isn't even debatable given the origin of the Playstation. We would have a completely different landscape. We could in theory still have the X-Box, but it would have been unlikely without Nintendo as without Nintendo, Microsoft would likely just have computer games.

[Arewn]

Another way you could look at it is that Nintendo is to blame for console gaming being perpetuated past the 80s.

[Kallisto]

No, period. The industry was alive and well in europe and japan, it only "died" in USA, atari was only big in USA a "small" market in the time. Europe and Japan had a variery of different systems aside from nintento and a better ecosystem, nintendo just filled the void alongside sega that atari left in the USA

This 100% this.

USA may have been hit by Atari allowing basically anything on their console to the point ET and other crap put people off gaming IN THE US. But in western Europe (Remember eastern Europe was under the Soviet sphere so different.), Aus/NZ, Japan and other countries there was no blip in gaming.

The UK and Europe had nothing but continuous growth, Nintendo was already coming out in Japan when the issues in the USA was happening. The video game crash was nothing more than the US going through changes in which Nintendo was able to get the win. Elsewhere, it was nothing.

I think the modern outlook of the crash in the US forgets that in the 1980s in terms of gaming USA, Europe, Japan, countries more aligned with USSR might as well have been on different planets. The Markets today might be more aligned (and with former communist states, no longer there and absorbed by European market). But back then they were completely different. It really wasn't until mid to late 80s that games were really being released in other markets in numbers. Hell even in the PS1 era in Europe we were still missing big games from USA and Japanese markets (FFtactics the biggest one I can think of but there are many many more). Likely the same for USA and Japanese markets too with European made games.

[A Chozo]

That gold seal was a big deal.

I know.

We respect the seal.

[Rawrajishxc]

Another way you could look at it is that Nintendo is to blame for console gaming being perpetuated past the 80s.

I applaud them for that.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

It would be a very different industry without Nintendo doing what they did.

[oplawlz]

Another way you could look at it is that Nintendo is to blame for console gaming being perpetuated past the 80s.

My thoughts as well. Plus they're to blame for garbageware like pokemon and animal crossing xd