Nintendo Targets Women & Grandparents
Nintendo has been selling out of its little white Wii console since its release late last year, and sales of the DS Lite portable have been equally stellar. At last week's E3 video game conference, Nintendo demonstrated that sales of both systems have been fueled largely by groups that aren't typically seen as, well, gamers. Making the systems as accessible to non-gamers as possible was one of the key design concepts when Nintendo designers were piecing the systems together. According to Nintendo's own research, that work is paying off.
From the DS and success of general-appeal games like 'Nintendogs' and 'Brain Age' Nintendo has managed to boost the portable gaming side of things. Portable gaming consoles now account for 50 percent of all video game system sales. That's up from 30 percent in 2002. The DS alone makes up for half of those sales, while Nintendo's older handheld, the GameBoy Advance, makes up most of the remaining half. Though it has been gaining steam lately, that still leaves the PSP with very little market share.
Thanks to those games on the DS and the pick-up-and-play nature of the Wii, Nintendo has managed to break long-standing industry standard demographics as well. For example, women make up an impressive one third of Nintendo gamers compared to about 20 percent for the competition. Likewise, while game companies typically target young males, half of all men over 50 have tried the Wii. This expansion of the gaming industry has resulted in an amazing 56 percent increase in sales of games and game hardware compared to last year in the U.S., and an even more impressive 114 percent increase in Japan.
With the DS being seen as a tool for seniors to ward off dementia, and the Wii getting more and more recognition as a healthy and fun way for everyone to game, by next year the mainstream gamer may indeed just be ... mainstream.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Emms Wii Player @ Sep 2nd 2007 8:05PM
My parents like to get involved with playing on the wii with us. This is great to keep there bellys in trim. We got a great games package with big brain accademy and the sports game. Like you say nintendo wants us all thinner and smarter.
Rocky @ Nov 3rd 2007 12:41PM
I am 65 and got my first Nintendo 16 years ago. It wasn't my last either. My all time favorite game is Zelda. I play fairly well but in the later Zelda games I did have trouble with the bosses and would get my grandkids to beat them and then I would continue on.
I really had to relearn how to THINK. In the beginning, I had walked around the deck in Titanic for 18 hours without knowing what to do next! LOL....
I'm trying to beg,borrow or steal a Wii but have had no luck!
I KNOW that gaming has sharpened my reflexes and my thinking skills. And I was thinking how much fun it would be to work on a game such as Nancy Drew, with another adult. It would be kewl to brainstorm the possible solutions.
Dale @ Jan 1st 2008 11:25AM
I bought the Wii but so far only have the games that came with it.
Dale Gardner
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dynasty982 @ Feb 16th 2008 11:49AM
I think this is a very good strategy. Since the hard-core games are usually younger guys, why not market a product towards a crowd not normally buying video games?