How a Failing Nintendo Accessory Spawned the $100 Billion Pokémon Empire - IGN

Without Nintendo’s Game Boy Link Cable, Pokémon would have never sold hundreds of millions of video games, printed tens of billions of trading cards, and had hundreds of millions of people play Pokémon Go. But how exactly did Nintendo’s once-failing peripheral lead to the creation of one of gaming’s most iconic brands, one that has stood the test of time for 30 years? This is the story of how a simple cable spawned a $100 billion empire. It’s April 1989. The hottest device on the market is Nintendo’s Game Boy, instantly selling hundreds of thousands of units thanks to its revolutionary ability to play games anywhere. But despite its tiny, personal-sized screen, the Game Boy experience wasn’t intended to be a lonely one. A peripheral designed to link multiple Game Boys together also arrived at launch: the Game Link Cable. But while that length of wire unlocked a whole world of multiplayer possibilities, it went largely uncelebrated: most early adopters were using their Game Boys to play hit games like Tetris and Super Mario Land solo. The Game Link Cable was anything but a must-buy accessory. Eight years and more than 130 games came and went, and during that time Nintendo and its de

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