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Image: Interbrand

Nintendo is a major entertainment brand and still has the power to draw in gamers of all types, but even the most optimistic among us will acknowledge that it's fallen backwards in that area in the past few years. Nintendo was a leading force in entertainment in the Wii and DS era, yet has had to settle for a lower level of success with 3DS while enduring struggles with the Wii U.

Though Nintendo's actively stepping up IP partnerships and plotting its first smart device game release, critics have often accused the company of being too slow to modernise. Interbrand, the "world's leading brand consultancy", has now dropped Nintendo from its annual Best Global Brands list of 100 companies; this list includes all companies in various areas of business, with Apple and Google unsurprisingly occupying the top two spots. It's been coming, with the company squeezing in at 100th place in the 2014 list. You can see the last 10 years of results for Nintendo below:

  • 2004 - 46th
  • 2005 - 50th
  • 2006 - 51st
  • 2007 - 44th
  • 2008 - 40th
  • 2009 - 39th
  • 2010 - 38th
  • 2011 - 48th
  • 2012 - 56th
  • 2013 - 67th
  • 2014 - 100th
  • 2015 - didn't place

Interbrand looks at various factors, such as profit levels and how successfully companies are engaging with customers. Its buzzword seems to be 'mecosystems', among others, emphasizing the need for companies "create customized experiences around a single individual, where every brand in consideration slots in seamlessly". This seems to boil down to reacting to the way people live and want to use products, an area where Nintendo has arguably been slow to adjust.

It's a reminder that Nintendo is moving into a key period, in which it'll reshape itself and how we perceive it with smartphone releases, the 'NX' platform and even its 'Quality of Life' product. 2016 will be a big year for the big N.

Thanks to those that sent this in.

[source interbrand.com]