The story of Apple, Bandai and the game console that couldn’t



[ad_1]

The early 90s were pretty dark for Apple. Employees didn’t feel too good about the leadership of then-CEO John Sculley, and much of the company’s money – perhaps too much – was spent on R&D for projects that would not connect with the market or see the light of day. The company’s competitiveness was rapidly diminishing and something had to change.

Meanwhile, 5,000 miles away, one of Japan’s biggest toy makers was grappling with its own change. For Bandai CEO Makoto Yamashina, his business – which was given to him by his father, no less – was to be a “servant of the children,” and these children wanted to play video games.

It’s the story of how two remarkably different companies decided to work towards a common goal: to build a home video game console. And multimedia machine. It could also get you on the Internet. Surely it wouldn’t be hard to get all of this in the ’90s, right? History ultimately shows us that things went horribly wrong for everyone involved, but as Apple continues to push through our living rooms, it’s worth looking back on the last time it tried.

[ad_2]

Source link