Editing Nintendo (section)

==== Nintendo of America ====
[[File:Nintendo of America Headquarters.jpg|thumb|right|Nintendo of America headquarters in [[Redmond, Washington]]]]
Nintendo founded its North American subsidiary in 1980 as Nintendo of America (NoA). [[Hiroshi Yamauchi]] appointed his son-in-law [[Minoru Arakawa]] as president, who in turn hired his own wife and Yamauchi's daughter Yoko Yamauchi as the first employee. The Arakawa family moved from [[Vancouver]], British Columbia to select an office in [[Manhattan|Manhattan, New York]] due to its central status in American commerce. As both were from extremely affluent families, their goals were set more by prestige than money. The seed capital and product inventory were supplied by the parent corporation in Japan, with a launch goal of entering the existing $8&nbsp;billion-per-year [[coin-op]] [[arcade video game]] market and the largest entertainment industry in the US, which had already outclassed movies and television combined. During the couple's arcade research excursions, NoA hired young gamers to work in the poorly maintained warehouse in [[New Jersey]] to receive and service game hardware from Japan.{{sfn|Sheff|1994|pp=94–103}}

In late 1980, NoA contracted the Seattle-based arcade sales and distribution company Far East Video, consisting solely of experienced arcade salespeople Ron Judy and Al Stone. The two had already built a decent reputation and a distribution network, founded specifically for the independent import and sales of games from Nintendo because the Japanese company had for years been the under-represented maverick in America. Now as direct associates to the new NoA, they told Arakawa they could always clear all Nintendo inventory if Nintendo produced better games. Far East Video took NoA's contract for a fixed per-unit commission on the exclusive American distributorship of Nintendo games, to be settled by their Seattle-based lawyer, [[Howard Lincoln]].{{sfn|Sheff|1994|pp=94–103}}

Based on favorable test arcade sites in Seattle, Arakawa wagered most of NoA's modest finances on a huge order of 3,000 ''[[Radar Scope]]'' cabinets. He panicked when the game failed in the fickle market upon its arrival from its four-month boat ride from Japan. Far East Video was already in financial trouble due to declining sales and Ron Judy borrowed his aunt's life savings of $50,000, while still hoping Nintendo would develop its first ''[[Pac-Man]]''-sized hit. Arakawa regretted founding the Nintendo subsidiary, with the distressed Yoko trapped between her arguing husband and father.{{sfn|Sheff|1994|pp=103–105}}

Amid financial threat, Nintendo of America relocated from Manhattan to the Seattle metro to remove major stressors: the frenetic New York and New Jersey lifestyle and commute, and the extra weeks or months on the shipping route from Japan as was suffered by the ''Radar Scope'' disaster. With the Seattle harbor being the US's closest to Japan at only nine days by boat, and having a lumber production market for arcade cabinets, Arakawa's real estate scouts found a {{convert|60000|sqft|m2|adj=on}} warehouse for rent containing three offices{{mdash}}one for Arakawa and one for Judy and Stone.{{sfn|Sheff|1994|pp=105–106}} This warehouse in the [[Tukwila, Washington|Tukwila]] suburb was owned by [[Mario Segale]], after whom the [[Mario]] character would be named,<ref name=donjames1/><ref name=donjames2/> and was initially managed by former Far East Video employee Don James.{{sfn|Sheff|1994|p=109}} After one month, James recruited his college friend [[Howard Phillips (consultant)|Howard Phillips]] as an assistant, who soon took over as warehouse manager.<ref name="MGC 2019 Howard">{{cite video|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pqpQcdFDR4 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/3pqpQcdFDR4| archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=MGC 2019 – Howard Phillips and Frank Cifaldi Interview|date=1 May 2019|publisher=Hair of the Dogcast|access-date=10 July 2019|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}} 10:00, 11:50, 17:25.</ref><ref name="Ninterview: Howard">{{cite web |url=http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/10/ninterview_howard_gamemaster_phillips|title=Ninterview: Howard "Gamemaster" Phillips|last=McFerran|first=Damien|date=5 October 2012|website=Nintendo Life|access-date=15 April 2019 |archive-date=16 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416011418/http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/10/ninterview_howard_gamemaster_phillips|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Firestone2011">{{cite book |first=Mary | last=Firestone|title=Nintendo: The Company and Its Founders|url=https://archive.org/details/nintendocompanyi0000fire|url-access=registration|year=2011|publisher=ABDO|isbn=978-1-61714-809-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/nintendocompanyi0000fire/page/n66 63]–}}</ref><ref name="Nintendo Frenzy">{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-27-vw-343-story.html|title=Nintendo Frenzy : Trends: America is in the grips of a computer-game craze. It may affect our future, some experts say.|last=Sipchen|first=Bob|date=27 April 1990|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=6 July 2019|issn=0458-3035|archive-date=6 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706062735/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-27-vw-343-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Journey from Warehouse">{{cite web|url=https://kotaku.com/one-mans-journey-from-warehouse-worker-to-nintendo-lege-5938371|title=One Man's Journey From Warehouse Worker to Nintendo Legend|last=Plunkett|first=Luke|date=28 August 2012|website=Kotaku|access-date=15 April 2019|archive-date=16 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416011418/https://kotaku.com/one-mans-journey-from-warehouse-worker-to-nintendo-lege-5938371|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="5 questions for Howard">{{cite web | title=5 questions for 'Gamemaster Howard' of Nintendo fame | first=Todd | last=Bishop | date=24 October 2012 | url=https://www.geekwire.com/2012/nintendo-americas-startup-story-eyes-gamemaster-howard/ | work=GeekWire | access-date=18 July 2019 | archive-date=18 July 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190718060519/https://www.geekwire.com/2012/nintendo-americas-startup-story-eyes-gamemaster-howard/ | url-status=live }}</ref> The company remained at fewer than 10 employees for some time, handling sales, marketing, advertising, distribution, and limited manufacturing<ref name="Ultimate History">{{cite book|first=Steven L.|last=Kent|title=The Ultimate History of Video Games: Volume Two: from Pong to Pokemon and beyond...the story behind the craze that touched our lives and changed the world|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PTrcTeAqeaEC&pg=PT762|date=16 June 2010|publisher=Crown/Archetype|isbn=978-0-307-56087-2|pages=762–|access-date=18 July 2019|archive-date=6 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806200902/https://books.google.com/books?id=PTrcTeAqeaEC&pg=PT762|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|160}} of arcade cabinets and ''[[Game & Watch]]'' handheld units, all sourced and shipped from Nintendo.

Arakawa was still panicked over NoA's ongoing financial crisis. With the parent company having no new game ideas, he had been repeatedly pleading for Yamauchi to reassign some top talent away from existing Japanese products to develop something for America{{mdash}}especially to redeem the massive dead stock of ''Radar Scope'' cabinets. Since all of Nintendo's key engineers and programmers were busy, and with NoA representing only a tiny fraction of the parent's overall business, Yamauchi allowed only the assignment of [[Gunpei Yokoi]]'s young assistant who had no background in engineering, [[Shigeru Miyamoto]].{{sfn|Sheff|1994|p=106}}

{{further|topic=the fortuitous conversion|Radar Scope|Donkey Kong (1981 video game)#Development|label2=Donkey Kong}}

NoA's staff{{mdash}}except the sole young gamer Howard Phillips{{mdash}}were uniformly revolted at the sight of the freshman developer Miyamoto's debut game, which they had imported in the form of emergency conversion kits for the overstock of ''Radar Scope'' cabinets.{{sfn|Sheff|1994|p=109}} The kits transformed the cabinets into NoA's massive [[windfall gain]] of {{nowrap|$280 million}} from Miyamoto's smash hit ''[[Donkey Kong (1981 video game)|Donkey Kong]]'' in 1981–1983 alone.{{sfn|Sheff|1994|p=111}}<ref>{{cite book|title=Wii Innovate – How Nintendo Created a New Market Through Strategic Innovation |first=Jörg | last=Ziesak |publisher=GRIN Verlag |year=2009 |isbn=978-3-640-49774-4 |page=2029 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C8rHXoUCbfAC&pg=PA2029 |access-date=9 April 2011 |quote=Donkey Kong was Nintendo's first international smash hit and the main reason behind the company's breakthrough in the Northern American market. In the first year of its publication, it earned Nintendo 180 million US dollars, continuing with a return of 100 million dollars in the second year. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418041705/https://books.google.com/books?id=C8rHXoUCbfAC&pg=PA2029 |archive-date=18 April 2016 }}</ref> They sold 4,000 new arcade units each month in America, making the 24-year-old Phillips "the largest volume shipping manager for the entire Port of Seattle".<ref name="Journey from Warehouse" /> Arakawa used these profits to buy {{convert|27|acre|ha}} of land in Redmond in July 1982{{sfn|Sheff|1994|p=113}} and to perform the $50&nbsp;million launch of the [[Nintendo Entertainment System]] in 1985 which revitalized the entire video game industry from its [[video game crash of 1983|devastating 1983 crash]].<ref name="Here's how">{{cite web | title=Here's how Nintendo announced the NES in North America almost 30 years ago | date=31 October 2015 | first=Owen S. | last=Good | work=Polygon | url=https://www.polygon.com/2015/10/31/9651584/nintendo-nes-anniversary-original-launch-documents | access-date=1 July 2019 | archive-date=3 July 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703002854/https://www.polygon.com/2015/10/31/9651584/nintendo-nes-anniversary-original-launch-documents | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="In Their Words">{{cite web | title=In Their Words: Remembering the Launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System | date=19 October 2015 | first=Frank | last=Cifaldi | work=IGN | url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2015/10/19/in-their-words-remembering-the-launch-of-the-nintendo-entertainment-system | access-date=1 July 2019 | archive-date=2 July 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702083259/https://www.ign.com/articles/2015/10/19/in-their-words-remembering-the-launch-of-the-nintendo-entertainment-system | url-status=live }}</ref> A second warehouse in Redmond was soon secured, and managed by Don James. The company stayed at around 20 employees for some years.

{{further|History of the Nintendo Entertainment System|Howard Phillips (consultant)}}

On August 10, 1993, Nintendo of America rolled out the [[Nintendo Gateway System]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Virgin Airways fleet to get US$19m interactive systems |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/biztimes19930813-1.2.60.13.4?qt=lodgenet&q=lodgenet |work=Business Times (Singapore) |agency=UPI |date=August 13, 1993}}</ref>

The organization was reshaped nationwide in the following decades, and those core sales and marketing business functions are now directed by the office in [[Redwood City, California]]. The company's distribution centers are Nintendo Atlanta in [[Atlanta]], Georgia, and [[Nintendo North Bend]] in [[North Bend, Washington]]. {{as of|2007}}, the {{convert|380000|sqft|m2|adj=on}} Nintendo North Bend facility processes more than 20,000 orders a day to Nintendo customers, which include [[Retail|retail stores]] that sell Nintendo products in addition to consumers who [[Online shopping|shop]] Nintendo's website.<ref>{{cite web |author=R.H. Brown Co. Inc. |year=2007 |title=Case Studies |url=http://www.hytrol.com/casestudy.cfm?id=35 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070817205829/http://www.hytrol.com/casestudy.cfm?id=35 |archive-date=17 August 2007 |work=Hytrol.com |access-date=17 September 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Nintendo of America's Canadian branch, Nintendo of Canada, is based in [[Vancouver|Vancouver, British Columbia]] with a [[distribution center]] in [[Toronto]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Nintendo of Canada Ltd|url=https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.nintendo_of_canada_ltd.2a8c141032bc765b8cf3275f9aaf271d.html|website=D&B Business Directory|access-date=18 February 2022|archive-date=9 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220109201910/https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.nintendo_of_canada_ltd.2a8c141032bc765b8cf3275f9aaf271d.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Nintendo Treehouse is NoA's localization team, composed of around 80 staff who are responsible for translating text from Japanese to English, creating videos and marketing plans, and quality assurance.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Schreier |first1=Jason |title=Nintendo's Secret Weapon |url=http://kotaku.com/inside-the-treehouse-the-people-who-help-make-nintendo-1301809672 |website=Kotaku |date=22 April 2014 |access-date=2 August 2017 |archive-date=2 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802163637/http://kotaku.com/inside-the-treehouse-the-people-who-help-make-nintendo-1301809672 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Nintendo of America announced in October 2021 that it will be closing its offices in Redwood City, California, and Toronto and merging its operations with its Redmond and Vancouver offices.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.theverge.com/22753434/nintendo-closes-redwood-city-offices-california-toronto-canada | title = Nintendo is officially closing its Redwood City and Toronto offices | first = Jay | last = Peters | date = 29 October 2021 | accessdate = 29 October 2021 | work = [[The Verge]] | archive-date = 30 October 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211030002824/https://www.theverge.com/22753434/nintendo-closes-redwood-city-offices-california-toronto-canada | url-status = live }}</ref> In April 2022, an anonymous [[quality assurance]] worker filed a complaint with the [[National Labor Relations Board]], alleging Nintendo of America and contractor Aston Carter had engaged in union-busting activities and surveillance. The employee had been fired for mentioning unionizing efforts in the industry during a company meeting.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Totilo |first=Stephen |date=April 19, 2022 |title=Nintendo hit with labor complaint |url=https://www.axios.com/2022/04/19/nintendo-nlrb-complaint |access-date=April 2, 2024 |website=Axios |archive-date=2 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240402131748/https://www.axios.com/2022/04/19/nintendo-nlrb-complaint |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Jiang |first=Sisi |date=2022-09-29 |title=Former Nintendo Worker Wants Company President To Apologize After Alleged Firing [Update] |url=https://kotaku.com/nintendo-labor-complaint-union-national-labor-relations-1848814100 |access-date=2024-04-02 |website=Kotaku |language=en |archive-date=2 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240402131748/https://kotaku.com/nintendo-labor-complaint-union-national-labor-relations-1848814100 |url-status=live }}</ref> The companies agreed to a settlement with the employee in October 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Carpenter |first=Nicole |date=2022-10-13 |title=Nintendo of America settles labor dispute with former QA worker |url=https://www.polygon.com/23401365/nintendo-of-america-qa-labor-dispute-nlrb-settlement |access-date=2024-04-02 |website=Polygon |language=en-US |archive-date=2 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240402131748/https://www.polygon.com/23401365/nintendo-of-america-qa-labor-dispute-nlrb-settlement |url-status=live }}</ref> In March 2024, Nintendo of America restructured its product testing teams, resulting in the elimination of over 100 contractor roles. Some of the affected contractors were given full-time roles.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gach |first=Ethan |date=2024-03-27 |title=Big Shakeup At Nintendo Testing Center Ahead Of Switch 2 |url=https://kotaku.com/nintendo-switch-2-layoffs-testing-zelda-totk-1851369539 |access-date=2024-04-02 |website=Kotaku |language=en |archive-date=2 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240402131748/https://kotaku.com/nintendo-switch-2-layoffs-testing-zelda-totk-1851369539 |url-status=live }}</ref>