Nintendo's Empire of Secrets with Keza MacDonald

Nintendo's Empire of Secrets with Keza MacDonald

From Factually! with Adam Conover by Headgum

April 15, 2026 · 1h 28m

About this episode

Adam Conover discusses the secrets behind Nintendo's enduring success with guest Keza MacDonald.

The video game industry is in a state of chaos. Layoffs, buyouts, studio closures, mergers—the entire industry seems plagued. Except for Nintendo. The Japanese video game giant is over one hundred years old, and since they dominated the home console market in the 80s, they’ve been generally unwavering in their success, and all without succumbing to the pitfalls of other game companies. But they’re also tremendously secretive, operating with very little behind-the-scenes publicity and deploying their massively innovative games with relatively little lead-up. This week, Adam talks games with Keza MacDonald, a video game editor at The Guardian. Her new book, Super Nintendo: The Game-Changing Company That Unlocked the Power of Play, takes a look behind Nintendo’s curtain of secrecy to show how this company has been able to innovate and surprise for so long. Find Keza's book at factuallypod.com/books -- SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/adamconover SEE ADAM ON TOUR: https://www.adamconover.net/tourdates/ SUBSCRIBE to and RATE Factually! on: » Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/factually-with-adam-conover/id1463460577 » Spotify…

People in this episode

Host: Adam Conover

Guest: Keza MacDonald

Topics covered

  • video game industry
  • Nintendo
  • innovation
  • secrecy
  • gaming culture

Keywords

  • Nintendo
  • video games
  • Keza MacDonald
  • innovation
  • secrecy
  • gaming industry
  • Super Nintendo

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Guardian, Nintendo, Headgum

Products: Super Nintendo: The Game-Changing Company That Unlocked the Power of Play

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