Nintendo’s Wii and DS capture new market: mothers, pre-teen girls, senior citizens

Just about a year ago, we reported about Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata‘s intention to market the Wii and the DS to mothers, the elderly, and to young women, saying that “It’s a challenge, like trying to sell cosmetics to men.”  Well what do you know, Nintendo managed to fulfill that promise, just a little more than a year after they made the announcement.

Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter said that Nintendo’s new diverse games such as Wii Sports helped the motion sensor-driven console to capture the new gaming market, and leaving its rivals Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox chasing in its wake. “It really is fun,” said Pachter about Wii Sports. “Anyone can do it.”

Avid Wii gamers (and there’s a lot of them) constantly hold Wii parties, and even recruited the help of party planning online service Evite in starting up even more Wii parties from birthdays to family reunions.

Nintendo’s handheld, the DS, is also basking in its own share of success. Games such as Brain Age were targeted towards senior citizens, while Nintendogs became a main staple of DS-toting pre-teen girls.

Even Pachter’s wife is addicted to Nintendo’s pet dog simulation. According to the analyst:

I know before the girls got Nintendogs, my wife had never played a video game in her life and she was completely opposed on moral and educational grounds to my kids even picking up a DS. Now she thinks it is the cutest thing she has ever seen.

With that kind of success in their hands, the idea of Nintendo being able to sell cosmetics to men doesn’t sound as impossible as before.

Via Guardian

Just about a year ago, we reported about Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata‘s intention to market the Wii and the DS to mothers, the elderly, and to young women, saying that “It’s a challenge, like trying to sell cosmetics to men.”  Well what do you know, Nintendo managed to fulfill that promise, just a little more than a year after they made the announcement.

Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter said that Nintendo’s new diverse games such as Wii Sports helped the motion sensor-driven console to capture the new gaming market, and leaving its rivals Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox chasing in its wake. “It really is fun,” said Pachter about Wii Sports. “Anyone can do it.”

Avid Wii gamers (and there’s a lot of them) constantly hold Wii parties, and even recruited the help of party planning online service Evite in starting up even more Wii parties from birthdays to family reunions.

Nintendo’s handheld, the DS, is also basking in its own share of success. Games such as Brain Age were targeted towards senior citizens, while Nintendogs became a main staple of DS-toting pre-teen girls.

Even Pachter’s wife is addicted to Nintendo’s pet dog simulation. According to the analyst:

I know before the girls got Nintendogs, my wife had never played a video game in her life and she was completely opposed on moral and educational grounds to my kids even picking up a DS. Now she thinks it is the cutest thing she has ever seen.

With that kind of success in their hands, the idea of Nintendo being able to sell cosmetics to men doesn’t sound as impossible as before.

Via Guardian