Yes, it was a playing card company.

沒錯，它曾是一間做遊戲紙牌的公司。

And this is Nintendo today.

這是今日的任天堂。

"It's-a Me, Mario!"

「我是瑪利歐！」

Consoles, theme parks, even movies.

推出了遊戲機、主題樂園，甚至電影。

So, what has driven the 44-billion-dollar empire?

是什麼推動了價值 440 億美元的帝國發展壯大呢？

This is "The Economics of Nintendo".

今天的節目是《任天堂的經濟學》。

Nintendo is different from its competitors, Sony and Microsoft, thanks, in part, to its low-cost hardware.

任天堂跟其競爭對手索尼及微軟不同，歸功於它低成本的硬體。

Microsoft's Xbox makes no profit on its hardware.

微軟的 Xbox 的遊戲機根本沒什麼利潤。

Consoles are actually sold at a loss in the market.

遊戲主機其實在市場上是以虧本的價格出售。

So, when somebody goes and they buy an Xbox at their local retailer,

當有人跟其當地零售商購買 Xbox 時，

we're subsidizing that purchase somewhere between 100 and 200 dollars

我們會補貼這筆交易，大約是一百至二百美元，

with the expectation that we will recoup that investment over time through accessory sales in storefront.

預期透過銷售配件和數位商店回收這項投資。

And Sony only recently began to make a profit on the PlayStation 5.

Sony 直到最近才開始因為 PS5 獲利。

Then there's Nintendo.

然後是任天堂。

The technology is usually five or six years behind in terms of state-of-the-art.

在技術方面，任天堂的遊戲機通常落後於最先進的技術五到六年。

But that means that they're cheaper to produce and that means that Nintendo is much, much more profitable on their hardware business.

但這代表它們的生產成本更低，讓任天堂的遊戲機事業更加賺錢。

About half of Nintendo's profit in 2022 came from hardware sales.

就 2022 年而言，約有一半的任天堂利潤來自銷售遊戲機。

They've dominated the market when it comes to handheld consoles.

他們主宰了掌上型遊戲機的市場。

One of its big successes, the Game Boy, launched in 1989.

任天堂其中一個很成功的例子是 Game Boy，於 1989 年推出。

Nintendo was really early to the party with handheld.

任天堂很早就投入掌上型遊戲機的市場。

They're kind of credited with inventing the console, although they were probably third or fourth.

大眾普遍認為是他們發明了遊戲機，雖然他們應該是第三或第四個進入這個市場的公司。

The Game Boy had a longer battery life compared to some of its competitors.

Game Boy 的電池續航力比一些競爭對手更長久。

Four shades of gray, nuanced gameplay, and had Tetris, one of the top-selling video games of all time.

Game Boy 螢幕具有四灰階、細膩的遊戲玩法，並且內建《俄羅斯方塊》這個史上最暢銷的遊戲。

Eventually, Nintendo's Game Boy became the third most sold console in the company's history, selling 119 million units to date.

最終，任天堂的 Game Boy 成為該公司歷史上銷量第三高的遊戲機，迄今為止的銷量為 1.19 億台。

The company continued to innovate, releasing new hardware for its games,

任天堂持續創新，為其遊戲推出新的遊戲機，

from the GameCube, Nintendo DS, the Wii, and to its most recent success, the Switch, with more than 122 million units sold.

從 GameCube、Nintendo DS、Wii 到最近大獲成功的 Switch，銷量超過 1.22 億台。

You can play it at home like a console on your big screen TV, but you could pick it up and take it on the go.

你可以在家裡用大螢幕電視上控制遊戲機，也可以隨身攜帶。

And it becomes a handheld device, and that's pretty novel.

它變成了手持的設備，一個很新穎的想法。

We haven't really seen anything that's, uh, hybrid like that before.

以前沒有出現過這種混合式的遊戲機。

Sales of the Switch device and its games accounted for about 94% of Nintendo's sales revenue in its 2021 fiscal year.

Switch 的遊戲機跟遊戲銷售約佔了任天堂 2021 財年銷售收入的 94%。

And today, it's the second bestselling game console in Nintendo's history and continues to be a driving factor of its revenue.

如今，它是任天堂歷史上第二暢銷的遊戲機，並繼續成為其收入的驅動因素。

The success of Nintendo's consoles is also due to its software.

任天堂遊戲機的成功也歸功於它的軟體。

In other words, its games.

換句話說，就是它的遊戲。

In 2022, Nintendo had 19 first-party titles that sold over a million units each, exclusive to its consoles.

2022 年，任天堂擁有 19 款銷量超過 100 萬套的第一方遊戲，均為其遊戲機獨有。

The difference between the others and Nintendo is that Nintendo, historically, has produced about 50% of all the games sold on its hardware system.

其它公司與任天堂的不同之處在於（從歷史上看），任天堂生產了其遊戲機上銷售的所有遊戲的大約 50%。

And the other guys are typically under 10% of the games sold on their systems.

而其他人通常在他們系統上銷售的遊戲中所佔比例不到 10%。

So, they make make a small fraction of the software that's played on PlayStation and Xbox, and Nintendo makes more than half.

因此，其它公司製作一小部分在 PS 遊戲機 和 Xbox 上遊玩的軟體，而任天堂製作了一半以上。

Case in point: "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" release in April, 2020, created higher demand for the only console carrying it, the Switch.

例如，2020 年 4 月發布的《集合啦！動物森友會》讓唯一搭載它的遊戲機 Switch 的需求量提高。

Nintendo makes games exclusively, for the most part, for its own devices.

任天堂專門為自己的遊戲機製作遊戲。

If you want to play a Nintendo game, like "Legend of Zelda", you need Nintendo hardware.

如果你想玩任天堂遊戲，比如《薩爾達傳說》，你需要使用任天堂的遊戲機。

In fact, Nintendo's first-party games generate over 70% of its sales.

事實上，任天堂的第一方遊戲產生了超過 70% 的銷售額。

Its best sellers in 2022 were all Nintendo first-party games.

其 2022 年的暢銷產品都是任天堂的第一方遊戲。

And the type of content Nintendo makes is also different than its competitors.

任天堂製作的遊戲類型也與其競爭對手不同。

Let's keep in mind, Nintendo characters are very cute.

請記得，任天堂的角色非常可愛。

"It's-a Me, Mario!"

「我是瑪利歐！」

Nintendo is known for making family-friendly games, for the most part, so it appeals to a different crowd than some of the other publishers.

任天堂以製作適合家庭遊玩的遊戲而聞名，因此跟其他一些遊戲商相比，它吸引了不同的人群。

You won't see blood or gore or foul language.

你不會看到血跡或血塊，也不會看到粗言穢語。

But even Nintendo, a couple years ago, dabbled into the shooter genre.

但即使是任天堂在幾年前也涉足了射擊遊戲類型。

When we think of shooters, right, we think of "Call of Duty", "Fortnite".

當我們想到射擊遊戲時，我們會想到《決勝時刻》、《要塞英雄》。

They take a very family-friendly approach with "Splatoon".

任天堂的《斯普拉遁》走非常適合家庭的路線。

It's a shooter, but you're shooting paintballs.

它是射擊遊戲，但是射漆彈。

The company's next iteration?

該公司的下一步呢？

Bringing these family-friendly characters to a larger arena and building another generation of fans.

將這些適合家庭的角色帶到更大的舞台上，並培養新一代的粉絲。

In February, 2023, Nintendo opened its first theme park outside of Japan.

2023 年 2 月，任天堂在日本開設了第一家任天堂主題樂園。

And in April, it's releasing a Super Mario Brothers movie starring Chris Pratt.

同年 4 月，它將發行一部由克里斯·普瑞特主演的超級瑪利歐兄弟電影。

It's-a me, a-Mario.

「我是瑪利歐！」

That's smart, because that's gonna expose the Nintendo brand to hundreds of millions of people who haven't ever owned a Switch.

這很聰明，因為這會讓任天堂品牌暴光給數億從未擁有過 Switch 的人。

I don't think that Nintendo is necessarily worried about whether somebody who goes to the theme park will buy a Nintendo console or buy a game.

我認為任天堂不擔心去主題樂園的人是否會購買任天堂遊戲機或遊戲。

But they want those people to be aware of the Nintendo brands,

他們希望這些人了解任天堂品牌，

they want them to know who Mario is, and who Zelda is, and who Yoshi is, and who Pickmin is.

他們希望他們知道誰是瑪利歐、誰是薩爾達、誰是耀西、誰是皮克敏。

It is risky to start a new franchise, and sometimes new properties just don't resonate,

開始一個新的特許經營是有風險的，有時候新的產品可能無法引起共鳴，

but they have plenty⏤a very deep library, and they've stuck with that, for the most part, and iterated on it and modernized it.

但他們有很多的內容資源，一個非常豐富的資料庫，並且他們都堅持這樣做，對其進行改進和現代化。

We'll probably be playing "Legends of Zelda" for another 20, 30 years.

我們可能還會再玩 20、30 年的《薩爾達傳說》。

Mario is probably not going anywhere.

瑪利歐大概一直都會存在。

You know, he's just gonna live forever, and keep that mustache, and keep everyone happy for many years to come.

他會活得很長久、保留那個鬍鬚，並且讓每個人開心許多年。