Luke's Wii Debate
Re: Luke's Wii Debate
People who only play a single game of any type are only "casually" participating? I don't know how else to say it. You can be a "hardcore" Halo player, but only a "casual" gamer because that's all you play? I dunno.
Last edited by irixith on Wed Jul 06, 2011 2:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Luke's Wii Debate
If Nintendo has payed attention to their gaming history, they would likely also have known about the existence of a console marketed directly towards women in the mid-1990s by Casio called the Loopy. The entire thing was built around a sticker gimmick and failed to attract both sales and support from other companies. It bombed.
If anything, the strategy to grab people who don't play video games regardless of gender would be the best bet for the Wii, so Nintendo could create a new user base instead of having to fight with Microsoft and Sony for the same one.
Think of it like the MMORPG market. The number of folks who play MMOs actually isn't that large, and they tend to be migratory. Whenever a new MMO is released, thousands of players will switch from the old to the new. Depending on the quality, some may switch back or they may stay for a while. But the numbers of folks playing MMOs doesn't change much...at least not until World of Warcraft was released. The game wasn't marketed to the traditional MMO market but instead attracted people who didn't play MMOs at all, resulting in a massive amount of sales and expansion of the market. These new folks also don't migrate the same way to other MMOs and have largely stuck with WoW. Blizzard's MMO dominates all the others in terms of sales because they hit a market that other companies weren't going for: the non-MMO players.
If anything, the strategy to grab people who don't play video games regardless of gender would be the best bet for the Wii, so Nintendo could create a new user base instead of having to fight with Microsoft and Sony for the same one.
Think of it like the MMORPG market. The number of folks who play MMOs actually isn't that large, and they tend to be migratory. Whenever a new MMO is released, thousands of players will switch from the old to the new. Depending on the quality, some may switch back or they may stay for a while. But the numbers of folks playing MMOs doesn't change much...at least not until World of Warcraft was released. The game wasn't marketed to the traditional MMO market but instead attracted people who didn't play MMOs at all, resulting in a massive amount of sales and expansion of the market. These new folks also don't migrate the same way to other MMOs and have largely stuck with WoW. Blizzard's MMO dominates all the others in terms of sales because they hit a market that other companies weren't going for: the non-MMO players.
Re: Luke's Wii Debate
Based on the ads they ran when it came out, I always thought it was targeted towards parents (or whoever did the Christmas shopping) because they always showed a family playing together. Nintendo tried to make their console look "safer" and easier to relate to than the competition (in the sense that someone who doesn't play games wouldn't be intimidated) so that a non-gamer would feel confident in picking one up.
So, probably non-gamer, but possibly women (as in moms) because they usually get stuck with buying stuff for kids.
I don't have any official documentation backing this up though, just my thoughts on it. I would be interested if anybody does have something official from Nintendo though, it's an interesting question.
So, probably non-gamer, but possibly women (as in moms) because they usually get stuck with buying stuff for kids.
I don't have any official documentation backing this up though, just my thoughts on it. I would be interested if anybody does have something official from Nintendo though, it's an interesting question.