CSR Information

Continuous Support for the Starlight Children's Foundation

• Nintendo of America
• Nintendo of Canada
• Nintendo of Europe (U.K.)
• Nintendo Australia

Nintendo of America, Nintendo of Canada, Nintendo of Europe (U.K.) and Nintendo Australia have long-standing partnerships with the Starlight Children's Foundation (referred to as “Starlight” below), a non-profit organization that provides support to seriously ill children who require long-term care and to their families.

For over 30 years, Nintendo of America has partnered with Starlight to help create a positive and engaging experience for children in hospitals and their families coping with challenging health conditions. Through our line of devices using Nintendo gaming systems, the partnership aims to alleviate stress, anxiety and loneliness among pediatric patients.

Starlight Gaming stations are customized entertainment devices that combine a Nintendo gaming system with a TV. Designed to roll anywhere and preinstalled with a variety of games, these Gaming stations can be used from the comfort of each child's hospital bed, so that they can enjoy games with family and friends while helping them feel more at home. Nintendo of America also provides the Nintendo Switch Gaming handheld, featuring Nintendo Switch Lite, that enables children to play video games in hospital areas that may not have room for the traditional unit.

Children playing on a Starlight Nintendo Switch Gaming station and a Starlight Nintendo Switch Gaming handheld in the hospital

Since the launch of Nintendo Switch, Nintendo of America employees have designed and built over 900 Starlight Nintendo Switch Gaming stations and over 950 Starlight Nintendo Switch handhelds. Starlight places the Gaming stations and Gaming handhelds free of charge in their network of children’s hospitals and healthcare facilities in the U.S. and Canada.

Nintendo of America employees continue to support the Starlight Gaming program beyond the development of the systems by providing technical support to hospital staff and child life specialists^*1. Team members help troubleshoot issues, send out parts and help ensure Gaming stations and handhelds stay playable for many years.

Since launching the partnership, Starlight and Nintendo of America have delivered more than 8,400 Starlight Gaming stations to hundreds of hospitals across North America, helping to bring entertainment experiences to more than 11 million seriously ill children so they can heal and thrive.

Nintendo of Europe (U.K.) has continued to work closely with Starlight throughout 2023 toward reaching the target of providing 1,200 Gaming bundles to hospitals and hospices across the U.K. Since beginning our collaboration, we have sent out more than 800. The Gaming bundles include a refurbished^*2 Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS, plus two pieces of software. From Starlight’s past impact surveys, 83% of respondents agree it creates a positive hospital experience for children, relieves boredom and reduces anxiety. 94% of people who responded agree it distracts the children. It is estimated that children and young people have played on a Gaming bundle over 90,000 times.

Nintendo Australia partners with Starlight to provide Nintendo hardware and software to all Starlight rooms in children’s hospitals around Australia. We also have continued to offer support through donations of hardware, software and accessories to Starlight Wish Granting, a program designed to fulfill children’s wishes based on their unique needs, as well as to other Starlight events. In addition, in FY 2023, Nintendo Australia joined in Starlight’s Go BIG Challenge, in which participants can walk, run or roll as far as they can over a two-week period while raising funds for Starlight. Staff, family and friends of Nintendo Australia took up the challenge and raised over $4,000 for Starlight.

*1 Child life specialist

A specialist who provides psychological and social care to children in the hospital and their families.

*2 Refurbished

Refurbished products are used products that have been remanufactured and reused in order to promote circular use of resources.

“Starlight is proud and honored to call Nintendo of America a partner. Through the power of video games, we’ve created a source of entertainment, distraction and therapeutic play for pediatric patients, improving their well-being and fostering a sense of normalcy in an unfamiliar environment even during their most challenging days.”

Exhibit at a Learning Facility in Kyoto

• Nintendo Co., Ltd. (Japan)

Nintendo Co., Ltd. (Japan) collaborates on a Kyoto Manufacturers' Hall of Creativity/Workshop program run by the Kyoto Board of Education for elementary school students with a booth exhibit in the Kyoto Manufacturers' Hall of Creativity. In the booth, there is information explaining the technology used in our gaming systems and the jobs involved to create software so that students can learn about our approach to product creation. We have received positive feedback from the children visiting the booth.

Software to Experience the Fun of Programming

• Nintendo Co., Ltd. (Japan)

Game Builder Garage is a software title for Nintendo Switch that enables anyone to learn basic aspects of game programming by following step-by-step lessons. We developed this software with a focus on sharing the fun of programming so that even beginners can experience it naturally as if playing a game.

In Japan, where programming is now part of the mandatory elementary school curriculum, educators at multiple elementary schools are using Game Builder Garage as an instructional tool. We have been told that, in addition to getting children enthusiastically involved in programming, this initiative has also received a positive response from parents and guardians, as well as educators.

We hope Game Builder Garage will continue to create opportunities for people to take up programming and experience the fun for themselves.

Cooperation with Game Industry Educational Programs

• Nintendo of Europe (U.K.)

Nintendo of Europe (U.K.) is the lead partner of the not-for-profit program, Digital Schoolhouse, which is delivered by Ukie, a U.K. game industry organization, and provides support, including gaming systems and software, to enable in-classroom programming lessons that feature games. This program for students offers opportunities to familiarize themselves with game programming and learn about teamwork through a variety of play-based educational experiences.

For example, there are workshops designed for elementary school students in a range of categories such as “Algorithms and Programming” and “Communication and the Internet.” Schools or teachers who would like to use the workshop material in their classes can download resources from the Digital Schoolhouse website. Digital Schoolhouse also offers workshops taught by specialists.

Continuous Support for the Ovarian Cancer Canada Walk of Hope

• Nintendo of Canada

Nintendo of Canada continues to participate in the Ovarian Cancer Canada (OCC) Walk of Hope. The walk brings communities together to raise funds to help women with ovarian cancer and all at risk of the disease to live fuller, better and longer lives.

Nintendo of Canada supported all OCC walks nationwide by providing Nintendo Switch prize packages to promote participation in each province. Donation of these prizes adds an incentive to raise funds, and at the same time, provides a fun element to the event experience. The team also participated in the Vancouver walk, where we passed out Nintendo participation prizes to the kids.

Nintendo of Canada also teamed up with the Nintendo Cares program to fundraise for the cause.

Community Outreach Through Nintendo Cares

• Nintendo of America

Nintendo of America has a dedicated program called Nintendo Cares that provides philanthropic support for our local communities.

To help our communities in 2023, Nintendo of America employees donated to nearly 1,000 U.S.-based non-profit organizations. Employees also have the option of taking up to eight hours of time off during the workday per year to volunteer or to volunteer outside working hours. When employees volunteer on their own time, Nintendo of America contributes to the non-profit through a Dollars for Doers program, which uses an hourly donation rate based on the time each employee volunteers. Through these collective employee actions, we gave a total of more than 3,600 volunteer hours to our local communities.

Nintendo of America employees engage in the Month of Caring held each July with an emphasis on volunteerism. One full week is dedicated to youth mentoring and providing career exposure to middle and high school youth. In 2023, more than 100 students from six youth-facing non-profits spent some time with our employees to learn about a variety of careers. Also, employees from our official store, Nintendo NEW YORK, volunteered to help update a public school classroom by making furniture and painting. The classroom concept was a collaboration between the Fashion Institute of Technology, the non-profit New York Cares and the New York Board of Education. In addition to these activities, employees took part in a local charitable event to help combat food insecurity.

On top of the financial donations and volunteering, Nintendo of America employees purchased goods including hygiene items, backpacks with school supplies, warm coats, holiday meals, clothing and toys, which were donated to non-profits in support of youth and families.

Summer Learning Camps for Game Development

• Nintendo of America

In summer 2023, Nintendo of America continued its partnership with Girls Make Games (GMG). GMG hosts a series of virtual and in-person summer camps, workshops and game jams designed to teach and inspire the next generation of female game designers, creators and engineers.

To support GMG’s summer camps, Nintendo of America sponsored this year's camp and provided funding for American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters. The team also hosted a field trip to the Redmond campus, where campers had lunch with Nintendo of America representatives and participated in a guided tour of the headquarters building. This ongoing partnership with GMG helps contribute to interest in careers in gaming, building a more inclusive industry.

Digital Device Contribution Program in Germany

• Nintendo of Europe (Germany)

Many schools and other educational institutions in Europe still lack needed digital equipment and could benefit from additional support for digitalization, especially for children from low income or migrant families.

In order to support and bring smiles to children and young people in our region, the CSR team at Nintendo of Europe (Germany) started an IT donations project in 2021. Through this program, we clean and refurbish decommissioned company laptops and provide them to local charities and educational institutions. Each laptop we donate also comes in a Yoshi themed backpack. These facilities can receive IT onboarding sessions from our employees, if necessary. By extending the life cycle of these digital devices, the project also aims to promote the sustainable use of valuable resources.

In FY 2022, Nintendo of Europe (Germany) provided 130 refurbished company laptops to schools in different cities and a charity organization for young people. We continued the program with donations of an additional 90 laptops to four schools in the local Frankfurt area. The laptops have been well received by the various institutions and we plan to continue the program as a recurring CSR activity at Nintendo of Europe (Germany).