After generations of being a company that has always been focused on making entertainment products, namely, toys and avenues for joy and play the whole family can enjoy, Nintendo has earned a few privileges.

Chief among those privileges, especially in the modern video game landscape, is that Nintendo is the only company that doesn't have to worry about PC gaming. It's more than okay with staying away from the hullabaloo of new graphics cards, processors, and the latest hardware upgrades that PC gamers can't get enough of.

Because the truth is, PC gamers, and nearly every other type of gamer, can't get enough of Nintendo.

Nintendo is to video games what Disney is to movies

Don't mess with the plumber.

Nintendo's success in the last decade with the Nintendo Switch has definitely added to its ability to ignore the one platform that both of its console competitors can't, but the Nintendo Switch is not the full answer as to why it doesn't need to pay attention to PC, or publish its games on PC.

It's the fact that Nintendo is so synonymous with video games, that "playing Nintendo" became a colloquial way of saying "playing video games." It's the fact that Mario is a household character across the globe, and that he's not the only one who would be immediately recognized as a Nintendo character if you started randomly surveying people on the street to see if they could recognize them as someone from video games, and more specifically Nintendo.

The decades of recognition and nostalgia that Nintendo has built up over the years has cemented its place in the industry, and that is a hugely undeniable factor in the success Nintendo enjoys today. Of course, though, it wouldn't be enough to just stick around longer than anyone else. No one would give a toss about Mario if the games were awful.

Sure, not everything Nintendo makes or has ever made has been an instant classic. But you'd be hard-pressed to find another developer that has been able to churn out more influential and impactful titles than Nintendo. So many of Nintendo's biggest franchises have been key inspirations for the games we love today, and there isn't anyone working in games today, or even just someone who loves playing games, that doesn't recognize the incredible impact Nintendo has had.

And what really cinches the Nintendo to Disney comparison, is how Nintendo has capitalized on the success of its world-class games. If you think of an avenue for entertainment or merchandising where Nintendo can insert its characters and its world into the daily lives of the modern family, then it probably already exists. Nintendo even wants you and your kids to think about its characters when you're brushing your teeth.

Nintendo has every avenue of family and kids covered, wielding its well-established nostalgia in the lives of players just picking up a controller for the first time to veteran gamers with equal effect. You can't buy your way into that kind of power, and it's the kind that's strong enough to let Nintendo avoid a whole section of the market.

Nintendo knows that the best hardware doesn't equal the best games

Focusing on what really matters since 1889

Like I said before, Nintendo wouldn't have built its nostalgic empire if the games it made weren't worth going back to. Nintendo has been a toy company since its founding in the 19th century, and has always grown with the intention of entertaining people, and bringing more play and joy to the lives of its customers.

While the kinds of toys and products it makes have changed over the years, it has never lost sight of that one goal. So, when Nintendo began making video games, in heinsight it's almost no surprise that they were as good as they were. When the ultimate goal is to create a fun and joyful experience for your players, and the games you make are a genuine expression of that goal, it's no wonder that success came to Nintendo year after year.

Of course, the company has had its ups and downs, but the ups far outnumber the downs. Which is why people will still rush out to buy a Nintendo Switch 2 and every other piece of hardware the company makes in the future, because we all know that Nintendo games are worth it. Nintendo established itself as a powerhouse capable of making the best games the world has ever seen, and then established the fact that you can only get them in one place.

Nintendo consoles have never been stuffed with the fastest processors or the latest graphics capabilities. They've pushed plenty of hardware gimmicks, sure, but always with the intention of trying to give players a new experience that they wouldn't find elsewhere. While its competitors were always trying to 'wow' players with the best graphics, Nintendo knew that was a race it didn't even have to enter.

The Nintendo Wii is an excellent example of how Nintendo knew it could be successful without the best hardware, so long as it provided players with a fun and unique experience that simply was not available outside its own platform. In the end, Nintendo's competitors were the ones trying to copy the magic Nintendo had already captured. Xbox would have never bothered with the Kinect, nor would PlayStation have bothered with its PlayStation Move controllers, if they hadn't seen how dominant Nintendo was with motion controls.

Nintendo knows how to do its own thing, and that's all it needs to know.

All Nintendo has ever done is be different from what the rest of the competition is doing. That's all it's needed to do to remain such a dominant player in the video games industry. PC players might be a large part of the market, but it's a part that Nintendo doesn't need to directly cater to. It never has, and it's doubtful that it'll start anytime soon.