The Lie That Helped Build Nintendo | IGN Inside Stories
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- Опубликовано: 8 дек 2019
- The story of a man, a lie, a video game handheld, and a business empire.
Game & Watch Illustrations by Anna Hollinrake www.annahollinrake.com/
Owe Bergsten Narration by Benjamin Hagberg
voice123.com/benjaminhagberg
Image Credits:
Game and Watch frame by Lee Robson (aka hydef)
‘Nintendo Switch Launch’ - Stian Søngsteng via Elektronikkbransjen
‘Owe with Mario’ - Christopher Johansson via Sveriges Radio
‘Younger Bergsten’ - Via Aftonbladet Plus
Special thanks to Brjann Sigurgeirsson, Klaus Lyngeled, Bergsala AB and Owe Bergsten.
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#ign 
Игры
We're incredibly happy to tell this bizarre, brilliant tale from gaming history, and we really hope you like it as much as we do! - Dale and Joe
If you’d like to see more gaming mini-documentaries we’ve made, why not check out:
Sean Murray On the Present, Past and Future of No Man’s Sky:
ruclips.net/video/7icS_69Ub6Q/видео.html
How Dragon Quest Spawned an Urban Myth:
ruclips.net/video/xykoyUH2HJo/видео.html
I am amazed by this story of the history of nintendo was put up ...this video is so well contructed that i forgot all about time and i had to wait for another bus, that I didn't mind at all.
The worlds first console fanboy documented
Loved it
what's bizarre about it? it's just great. IGN should really do more articles like this
This was great! *Smash tankard* Another!
“Here’s an ashtray.”
“Okay, you can have Sweden.”
It sounds like a gangster saying! Lol
Michael Smith Nintendo gangstaz lol
Thanks for the likes! Great story!
It was the 80's, man. Everybody smoked!!
Crab Jockey I still smoke. Yeah, I know better.
“He gave them love, and in return they gave him loyalty.”
That hit me harder than it should, not even gonna make a joke.
This hits different...
Wow.........
I cried
I just heard that quote as I read your comment.
I love Nintendo for this. They could've cut a deal with someone else but stayed with the man who helped them break into the West.
Literally how most business is done.
Oversell your capabilities and make it happen.
Except with one difference. Western companies have zero loyalty. This never could have happened if it was a Western company. They would have jumped ship for the next cheapest distributor down the road. Other than that, yes over sell capacity or you will never grow.
And this is why tech guys hate sales guys.
justaperson8910 Theranos.
He lied about who he was - but was capable of becoming that lie. So in essence it was true all along.
@@lliaolsen728 Truth bomb!
The greatest feat he accomplished was not explained at all. How did he manage to actually end up creating a distribution network? It's monstrously impressive.
IGN: *does real journalism*
: everyone liked that
But the ign itself don't like it
Reddit moment
Lol this is the only comment they didn't heart. They don't want to accept the truth.
@@SilverRiMiX nope, the rest of the hearted comments were posted a day before this one. It's possible that they only hearted comments that came on the same day, just a theory :p
@@Shizkeb They all said 1 day ago Yesterday at the time of my writing.
I’d like to see more of these mini-docs around lesser known stories in the gaming industry given how many there are out there.
look up the show Icons, it was an old show on G4 that did hour long documentaries on random people in gaming history
There’s this RUclipsr called Thomas game docs who does this sort of thing
Agreed.
you should also check the Gaming Historian channel, it has a lot of cool documentaries.
i cant believe my entire childhood rested on the shoulders of some random Swedish business man seeing a toy in Singapore
Yes ur childhood is based on a lie🤣
and that toy was the mastermind of a Nintendo janitor lol
The most unbelievable part about this tale is that he got the the airline to change his ticket for free.
Nothing moves those cold bastards
Those were different times.
One time my alarm didn't go off on a flight from London back to Canada and when I got to the airport they were happy to switch me but I had to go to a different airport and kill some time waiting all day but it worked. in my defense I wasn't really all that upset because I ended up arriving back in Canada a little earlier due to it being a shorter flight and less layovers and I got to spend about 6 hours in the London airport to eating British crisps before I made my way back to Canada
I can only imagine the amount of work that went into this, but I hope this encourages similar style videos! Awesome stuff folks!
Thanks Mike. You're right, it was a lot of work, but awesome to do! - Dale and Joe.
This style has proven to get views now as it's been around a few years, so people jump on the back... Its not groundbreaking
@@IGN who's Joe?
Wow
@@IGN this video was amazing. I really enjoy learning about gaming history and I'm amazed that I didn't know about this. I can't help but admire people like Owe Bergsten, he had his goal and done whatever it took to reach it.
I have such fond memories of the Bergsala logo on my NES games here in Sweden. They were genuinely a cool company and would answer letters from gamers. I'm happy to know the story behind this!
Not exactly a lie. He just didn't tell about the size of his "company". And most importantly: Despite his size, he was able to deliver.
In looking at the 2nd Telex message, his umbrella company has 3 different firms under it, with at least one with decent retail presence. He may not have been a giant presence in Sweden, but he certainly must have been a decent sized retailer.
Yeah but would you have clicked if it had said "Man exaggerates a bit, achieves business deal"
"Despite his size, he was able to deliver"
That's what she said.
@@matthewgaunt4358 "The lie that helped IGN get 1,000,000 views"
He did say in the 2nd message that he had around 700 stores, which was a big lie.
We need more like this on here. An extremely interesting look into the history of video games. Great job!
No we don’t,ur ratarded if u think this channel does need that
Wow
@@personwhoruinsthejoke9463 there was no joke yet you still ruined it, how!?!?!?
This is great! Amazing journalism, IGN! More of this, please.
Thanks Andrew! - Dale and Joe
@ERA CASTE I'd like to see a documentary in general about how shitty ign is at "journalism" and reviews. We all know they're very self aware of how corrupt they are.
Loved the story. The accuracy of the facts make this film very insightful. One remark though: Germany (at 11:20) had a slighty different map in 1982, comprising two different countries.
Lol you're right
yeah, and their economy still hadn't recovered whiles sweden which had stayed neutral in the war and sold lots of iron to both sides was financially strong.
@@filmjolkfilmjolk5518 - Germany had fully recovered by 1982, and per capita GDP was in the same ballpark as Sweden's, with Germany having more than 7 times the population
That guy is the most Swedish-sounding person I've ever heard
I think it might be because he's from Sweden
@@cark1389 I know, it's almost as if he's from Sweden...
@@TheRealSherman that is what I just said, and if you couldn't tell, that was sarcasm
@@cark1389 If you couldn't tell I was being sarcastic too you know
@Iraq Gaming Even so, the sheer potency of his accent is to be commended.
What a fantastic story! Had genuinely never heard this before, but without Owe Bergsten, the gaming landscape might be unrecognisable in Europe. You could say, we all "owe" him.
Probably not. The Famicom did end up being released as the NES in the US by Nintendo's local subsidiary before being released in Sweden or any other part of Europe in any form. The only big difference would have likely been the NES being released later in Europe.
You can tell there was more to it than just showing up by him waiting around and getting invited to dinner and drinks. The guy had experience dealing in asia and they were clearly impressed by him and his ability to do business with them. Sometimes the person you are going to be working with (for a lifetime) is more important than how much money his company has.
But you aren't saying that he would have made it all without this initial lie, are you?
But since he was able to deliver, was it really that much of a lie?
@@jeffc5974 I don't know.
Damn straight.
The right place and the right time can mean very little...
If you have the wrong person.
Engineering major: study entire life, work, and work, and work.
Business major: meet, get drunk and present an ashtray.
Political major : meet, get drunk & received an ashtray
@@bluesound666 , political majors typically are not the ones that become prominent politicians. At least in democracies like the US.
@@solderbuff ah you're right, most politicians in my country are businessman join or recruited by the party.
The whole documentary was AMAZING, i would love to watch more stories like this, you really made my day IGN.
We need more videos like this
Did you watch
cowboy pocket tomorrow ?
There are literally hundreds of videos like this one on smaller channels, and have been for years... Dig deeper and you'll find some actual quality and deep docs on all kinds of gaming things
We need more news like this.
9/10 - Like Skyrim but with
K N O W L E D G E
If you want more videos like this, you need to watch RUclips channels like "Gaming Historian", "Stop Skeletons from Fighting", etc.
Please make more of this type of documentary content!
NO !!!
Amfram because read his name
This story touches my heart, simply because if the events played out any different all of our childhoods would have been different. He took a chance, and was confident about it. It brings me joy to see business flourish overseas and make its way to the Americas.
Agreed! This was such a lovely and interesting little documentary.
I honestly thought I would stop watching within the first five minutes.
This small documentary is so interesting I watched all 19 minutes of it and it didn’t feel that long.
Same.
Agree. Had no idea it was 19 minutes until you said so!
This is called ‘doing your job right’
Same. When it ended I was like "Wait, I thought this was 19 minutes? Did I miss read and it was only 9?"
so do I
This is such a great video. Also, those Game and Watch illustrations are cute as heck!
Thank you! Yeah, we love them to. Our illustrator Anna did an incredible job! - Dale and Joe
Wow
A fantastic documentary, I would certainly enjoy more of these from IGN!
Thank you! - Dale and Joe.
No doubt. An interesting story, great production value.
This started off interesting and then became a thing of beauty!
“Fake it until you make it.” to the extreme. But he had business tenacity.
So technically we got to thank Sweden for being the testing ground that allowed Nintendo to spread it's wings for more Western audiences.
Wow
Nah I don't need to. Because I am Asian.
I mean it's not even technically. That's like legit what happened 😂
@@DwayneIsKing yeah you are right lol
Only if you believe that the Atari 2600 flopped, LOL
I want to hear more about the "tough negotiations with the bank" at 9:43. The rest is just normal business dealings. The bank stuff is the stuff no one talks about because it's not sexy but the stuff most people should learn.
This is what journalism and professionalism is all about, cheers.
hmmm... the Host looks like the Son of that Swedish guy
Hey ! Baldi animator ! What are you doing here ?
I'm seriously giving a standing golf clap for IGN doing actual journalism..... A single tear may or may not be rolling down my cheek.
"We need an initial order of 10,000 units."
"Hey, put me down for 30,000."
There's a butt clencher! There's no guarantees that the LCD games would be a sure thing other than one or two people thinking it was his jam.
And I wouldn't be the sort of person to go from "Check out this cool souvenir I got from my trip to Japan" to "Hey, I could sell these!"
guess to get the loan he had to put down everything he had as collateral so, if he was already all in might as well go all in.
also, not sure if it was part of the thinking process but maybe it was a power move. "we want your business, and will perform above your minimum expectations."
@@Kittsuera He was brave that's for sure. But since he loves it, he puts everything into it. He's love was well founded. His faith in Nintendo became a success.
Everyone was asking about them obv
@@Kopie0830 I think you don't understand the meaning of "brave." He never faced pain or injury. There was no fear to overcome. If anything he was fearless.
Achilles: *That's why no one will remember your name.*
"If it wasn't for that lie, I wouldn't have missed my flight" is the morale of the story.
Owe Bergsten: Remember 50 no and one yes is still a yes.
Nintendo: Fine you can have the NES.
When you lie on your resume and suddenly get the job
And nailed it so hard your boss dont want u to leave.
hot chip and lie
It is happened to me... Due of i'm not experienced, i got 10 reject, when i said "lie" immediately i got job! It happened in 2015.
@@friedburner6075 That didn't work out so well for Robert Irvine he nailed it hard and they still fired him LOL.
This... this was something special IGN. Love this "storytelling"!
I loved as well Vitor. I hope they do more like it.
He has walked into that building so many times but I never see him come out, I like to imagine that you're not re-using footage and that he's just walking out the back door and back in the front door repeatedly while the poor receptionist just sits there having deja vu over and over again.
I love history like this! Very well made and solid writing.
"Here's an ashtray"
"Sorry, I don't smoke"
Thank you, it's beautiful spare change holder.
Means you're a sissyboy
They all smoked back then
You've not been to Japan then I see :)
Everybody had several ashtrays back then, even if they didn't smoke. At home or in your office. The fancier the better.
Me: 19min video, im just gonna see what this is about .
19min afterwards: wow, love this video, wish we had more like this.
Great video.
glad I'm not the only one
one of the few videos i didnt ff through 2 minutes at a time.
. same ^
Amazing little documentary. As a swede, and gamer since the early 80’s, I knew most of this already. But it was still fantastic to watch. And yeah, it really makes you realize that the gaming business as a whole could have been entirely different if Owe didn’t buy that Game&Watch and put so much work into persuading Nintendo.
Mind boggling!
Well made video. Really appreciate the efforts of interviewing Bergsten and amazing illustrations
This story should be made into a movie.
Yes.
Agreed but Nintendo would never accept and would sue anyone who would make it without their consent.
@@Guigui_82 With a dinner awash in booze and a crystal ashtray I'm sure Bergsten could convince them to look the other way.
@@Guigui_82 I'm sure neither Facebook nor Zuckerberg are happy about The Social Network movie. Big studios have copyright lawyers that go over scripts in order to avoid getting sued.
Agree
I've seen that Mario statue outside Gothenburg a hundred of times, and I had no idea of the backstory!
Great video! :)
@Jack McClendon i know the feeling
XD I think your channel is fine XD
You gotta do what you gotta do to keep coppa from eating your family.
What a great story of business, loyalty, and friendship!
'friendship'
This Bergsten must have really understood the esoteric aspect of "Leave Luck to Heaven"!
Wait a second, this isn’t Gaming Historian
dude got scooped on a 30 year old story.
They're learning.
I would like but that would break the 64 mark
Those Swedes must have been overjoyed when Nintendo Labo came out. It satisfies their love for Nintendo products and self assembly furniture.
And of course they "Owe" it to Mr. Bergsten!
By the way Joe, nice Batik Shirt.
As a swede, yes, we were
Damn i wouldnt realize the batik if you didn't mention it..
IKEA-Bergsala need to do a crossover now with Nintendo themed furnitures...
Please do more of these, we have over 40 years of gaming history there must be hundreds of stories like this.
He wasn't telling a lie, he was telling a prediction.
It's tough to determine if it was a lie. He claimed to be a distributor. Every business has a first client.
- - true
His claimed was that he was already a big distributor.
@@dieptrieu6564 He was big...for Sweden.
@@dieptrieu6564 The fact that he could so easily distribute 30 thousand units on his first order, shows that it wasn’t a lie. He WAS a big distributor who wasn’t bullshitting about his abilities.
@@tomhill3248 Iirc he wasn't even big for sweden, he started as a small shop
So this was the man that created my NES gaming childhood... Never heard of him before, thanks a lot for this doc!
As someone born in the mid 80’s in a rural area I was literally raised on Nintendo. That ending actually brought a few tears!! Thanks for a great history lesson! I’m now looking for that original lie to frame in my Nintendo guest room!
Wow. I had one of those "Game and Watches" in 1980. Had no idea until now that the global Nintendo Empire was based on that teeny LCD based game!
That was strangely heartwarming.
Nintendo fan got his ultimate wish and then more.
You had 255 likes, im sorry I broke the byte with the like 256
You had 266 likes, I'm sorry I broke the byte with the like 267
Now its a perfect 300.
Took me 19 minutes to realise this was an ign video this level of content was great to see from them haven't been this impressed in a long time
Thank you, RUclips algorithm, for taking me to this BRILLIANT story.
Love stories like this, sometimes the universe just coalesces around a person place time and thing. Keep it up!
"At that time it was very easy to lie, because the internet had not been invented." - Abraham Lincoln
"At that time, it was very easy to Abraham Lincoln, because invented had not been lie." -
The internet
Patrick Valentino I lol'd
i remember the lies people told before internet but now i google it in their faces
Lol 😆
i searched the internets and it was not abraham who said that
This is the craziest most wholesome thing ever.
@Roshea Don't forget the wholesome lies he told.
@Roshea not what the video is about
@Roshea Yeah I suppose... I guess we can look positively on the corporate conglomerate for one video before we start hating them again.
@Hayato hmm so one guy lying his way into millions of dollars selling and distributing something that directly helped influence my childhood as well as millions of others in a positive way isn't wholesome as it is crazy?
Wholesome? Are you 7?
Let me get this straight. So,Nintendo at the time was a small company producing inexpensive,yet impressive at the time,handheld consoles. This dude who owned an electronics shop was cruising Japan when he spotted the Nintendo handheld and purchased one.
He fell in love with the unit to the point that he decided to contact the company (Nintendo) and pretend to be a big distributor in Sweeden. Strikes up a friendly conversation with a Nintendo employee and convices the employee to grant him rights to distribute in a certain region.
After some drinks and a fun night out,the Nintendo employee grants him rights to a region. He manages to borrow enough money to purchase the number of units Nintendo suggested for distribution (10,000) and he sells them like tacos in California.
From that success, he manages to buy more and more until sales began to decline.
He wasn't worried much but continued to spend time with Nintendo employees when visiting Japan until the engineers developed newer products like the Famicom/he GameBoy and Nes.
He now has a close relationship with Nintendo and makes BANK.
Geez,makes me wish I found an underdeveloped company and did the same thing.
Correction - Singapore, not Japan.
@Satsui Nohado Why did you repeat the entire video?
The companies are out there. You just need to look in the right places, have a belief and go for it.
Nintendo is from Japan, knowing that the game already sold in Singapore tells that Nintendo is already a great company, not that "small" even though not as big as now
Maybe you can get friendly with a Google exec and distribute RUclips to your country !!!
this is by far the BEST video I've ever seen from IGN so very interesting and heartfelt well done
Nintendo of Sweden looks like a McDonalds lol.
New buildings in 80s Europe had a tendency to look rather unspectacular.
its was a gas-station at a highway, they said it in the video
@@inevitablecraftslab ok. But it still looks like a McDonalds.
Ignore Anime Avatars or a former Denny's converted into a McDonald's
call me crazy but this story would seem like a great idea for a movie
you're crazy. But yes it would.
Starring john leguizamo as owe bergsten.
But there wasn’t many bad parts of the story. It would be an interesting idea in theory, but a boring movie in practice
Arush Verma just like forest gump, and that movie seemed to perform well.
Oh yeah
Exactly that game RC-04 basicly was my "whole" life for a year in middleschool (Stockholm, Sweden) in 1981-82.
Make more of this. This is not only informative but inspiring
More of such historical/anecdotal documentaries, please!
IGN for once doing actual journalism!?
2019 is a crazy year.
Can't wait to see what 2020 has in store.
Came for a shocking truth, stayed for the history lesson
Lovely illustrations, this is all so well produced and written.
So he didn't really lie, just stretched the truth. One thing that is true is that guy is a baller.
That is the most generic pfp I've ever seen
Hustle in his blood
totally agree.
Is just a click bait to watch the video
@obbygift Nintendo recieved its money, the problem would be with the bank loan
Ummmm, he pretty much lied. He pretty much lied multiple times. But that's the trick with honest people. Their definition of a lie is a bit more flexible so as to keep them honest.
Thank you, IGN, for telling this story!
This story is pretty well known among gaming circles in Sweden, and was written about a lot in gaming mags over here when I grew up. But it’s history that’s virtually unknown outside of of our borders, and when I’ve talked about it with non Swedes I’ve often gotten the impression that they believe I’m making it all up, so I love that you’ve helped share the history with the rest of the world.
The perfect example of the smallest events having the biggest effects : )
This is one of the best IGN videos I’ve seen, really inspiring!
Could we have more of these mini-documentaries?
Cognitive Aberration yes
Why is this a mini documentary?
*Bergsten: The real Michael Scott*
Somehow, I manage.
Maybe the 'i' is missing.
Bergstein
All any growing company needs a market with incredible persistence.
A swede that probably changed my mind more tha anyone else!
Why does the office looks like a repurposed McDonalds lol
@MR FREEZE-98 cheap huh? Have you seen the taxes?
Because McDonald’s is fantastic
@MR FREEZE-98 don't think he lives in America
What a time slot?
MR FREEZE-98 You appear you know nothing about Scandinavia lol.
"And then he upped the order to 30 000" Now he almost sounds like Heisenberg xD
Lol, I thought the same. "Can you take 4 pounds?"
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. He was also selling entertainment stuff
Heisenbergsala
that returning scene with the interview of middle-aged bergston cracks me up. it's a freakin sock over the microphone hahaha
I was a member of Nintendo club in Sweden back in the day. I maybe even have my card somewhere...
"A butterfly flapping wings of Telex paper."
Damn, that's a great line.
What a great story. This goes to show, each and every one of us has an impact on this world and others around us. Even though we may not see the impact, it is still there. Remember, you all matter.
this is the best documentaries style ever i saw in youtube!!! hats off
I wish I had that much confidence and charisma. My social anxiety could never
Honestly, it was one of the most compelling documentaries that I've ever seen.
Completely agree! I am super impressed with this and with IGN for backing it!
You should check out Jessica Kellgren-Frozard. She does profiles of historical figures, such as Annie Jump Canon. Annie was an American astronomer who was exceptional at her work.
She's also done profiles of Emily Dickinson, Charles II and Queen Alexandria.
@@cindybenforever7647 Does Jessica do anything on video games?
@@tomhill3248 Sorry, but no. Her channel is a bit more centred around her life and experiences, which are actually interesting. This is unrelated, but her wife is flipping adorable.
@@tomhill3248 Look up "GamingHistorian" they do a bunch of documentaries on the history of specific video games, consoles, or even controversies caused by video games of the past
It's amazing how much this one man changed the course of console gaming, and gaming as a whole, with one trip to Singapore.
I've been subscribed for years and this is the best and most polished content I've seen of this type from you guys!!!! Keep doing documentaries!!!!
Sounds to me more like:
When the Universe aligns itself to make you dream come true
The Game&Watch advertised itself as being widescreen even before widescreen was a thing! :)
Widescreens were a thing b4 TVs were a thing.
@@AdeleiTeillana : In the cinema, yes, but not at home.
wow, Great video and editing. great film work and an amazing story.
This was a fantastic piece. Please do more of them.
Loved this, really great work. Really well written and edited, would love to see even more of this stuff on IGN, really really cool!
Thanks Stephen, glad you liked it! - Dale and Joe
What a great story. Just on charm and behaving 'correctly' in the eyes of Japanese business culture, he gains a massive 'win'. Continuing the personal touch over the years is also viewed by the Japanese as a mark of respect.
Love this larger than life characters, what a fantastic piece! Congratulations!!
This was such an amazing video!!!! Thank you so much for creating this and sharing this story from a neat glimpse into the past of video games and the people who had influenced it all.
This was such a cute, thoughtfully put together piece.