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    Nintendo was founded in Kyoto, Japan in 1889 as a manufacturer of hanafuda playing cards. The company went through several small niche businesses before becoming a video game company.

    Who exactly is Nintendo's demographics?

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    moywar700

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    It's so quite clear to me that XBOX and Playstation target teenagers males up to people in their early 30's. However, with Nintendo, it's so confusing to me. They try to target little children. Why were they trying to target old people with the Wii?

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    Turambar

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    I don't think they were targeting old people with the Wii.

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    moywar700

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    #3  Edited By moywar700

    @turambar said:

    I don't think they were targeting old people with the Wii.

    In the Nintendo Wii commercials, they showed old people the Wii. I thought they intended the Wii for everybody. Even old people. However, Nintendo probably cares about more little children than old people who rarely play video-games.

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    AdequatelyPrepared

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    Nintendo's demographics are children, people that enjoyed their products as children, and Dan Ryckert.

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    MattyFTM

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    #5 MattyFTM  Moderator

    Ever since the DS, Nintendo have seemed to target the family audience, really. Games that are appropriate and enjoyable by all ages. It is a strategy that has worked well for them for the most part. The DS and 3DS have both done really well. The Wii was incredibly popular. The Wii U has been their only real failure.

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    Dixavd

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    People who like good games and don't have the pre-concieved notion that everything has to be dark or edgy to be good. So children, and adults who've actually grown up?

    ...

    Okay that was condescending of me (but I couldn't help it). They're demographic is directly aimed at families/fun-for-all-ages, and until recently it has worked out pretty well for them. It remains to be seen if that's a market they can re-capture (or if they'll try that again with the NX), but it is their current strategy.

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    moywar700

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    Should Nintendo really try to target everyone? I heard a marketing advice that products need to have a target audience.

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    Counterclockwork87

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    They try to target everyone, it worked wonders for the Wii. While the Xbox 360 and PS3 targeted 18-35 year olds, the wii targeted 7-60 year olds and it actually worked out for them for that console/DS.

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    paulmako

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    #9  Edited By paulmako

    They want to have everyone engaging with Nintendo properties, while also bringing in people who haven't played games that much.

    But don't take my word for it! Here are some quotes straight from Nintendo.

    From the current 'Message from the President' on the Nintendo website:

    "With the belief in our mission to put smiles on people's faces around the world through products and services, we have followed our basic strategy of expanding the gaming population by offering products that can be enjoyed by everyone regardless of age, gender or gaming experience."

    The next couple of quotes are from the Third Quarter Financial Q and A with Kimishima:

    From Question 8:

    "To expand this business in the next fiscal year, reaching young consumers and women and expanding our sales of our evergreen titles will be key."

    And one big but informative quote from Question 5:

    "We want to have everyone become familiar with our IP by reaching as many people as possible from an early age within their daily lives. Our long-term strategy is to spark our consumers' interest in playing Nintendo game systems and encouraging continued growth of our games business.

    I can provide a couple of examples from outside of Japan. In America, many children are using electric toothbrushes featuring Mario characters to brush their teeth every day. We have also worked with a shoe company to launch shoes that feature the designs of Nintendo game systems. As you know, we are also working on a theme park featuring Nintendo IP. Our policy and the focus of our current activities is to create more chances for our consumers to experience the charm of Nintendo IP."

    So they want everyone to know about Nintendo. They don't want it to feel off limits to anyone. They also want to let children know about Mario through toothbrushes! They are aiming for people to be familiar with Nintendo characters and ideas, which will hopefully lead to them buying consoles and games. You can see Miitomo as another manifestation of this.

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    moywar700

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    #10  Edited By moywar700

    I always thought it was so strange how Nintendo tried to target every single demographic with the Wii. It made me feel like the product wasn't made for me. They should had targeted teens to early 30's with the console.

    It appears the female crowd doesn't play Nintendo games that much anyways. Does anyone remember the demographics for Wii U shop owners. 92% of Wii U owners buys were male.

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    moywar700

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    @paulmako said:

    They want to have everyone engaging with Nintendo properties, while also bringing in people who haven't played games that much.

    But don't take my word for it! Here are some quotes straight from Nintendo.

    From the current 'Message from the President' on the Nintendo website:

    "With the belief in our mission to put smiles on people's faces around the world through products and services, we have followed our basic strategy of expanding the gaming population by offering products that can be enjoyed by everyone regardless of age, gender or gaming experience."

    The next couple of quotes are from the Third Quarter Financial Q and A with Kimishima:

    From Question 8:

    "To expand this business in the next fiscal year, reaching young consumers and women and expanding our sales of our evergreen titles will be key."

    And one big but informative quote from Question 5:

    "We want to have everyone become familiar with our IP by reaching as many people as possible from an early age within their daily lives. Our long-term strategy is to spark our consumers' interest in playing Nintendo game systems and encouraging continued growth of our games business.

    I can provide a couple of examples from outside of Japan. In America, many children are using electric toothbrushes featuring Mario characters to brush their teeth every day. We have also worked with a shoe company to launch shoes that feature the designs of Nintendo game systems. As you know, we are also working on a theme park featuring Nintendo IP. Our policy and the focus of our current activities is to create more chances for our consumers to experience the charm of Nintendo IP."

    So they want everyone to know about Nintendo. They don't want it to feel off limits to anyone. They also want to let children know about Mario through toothbrushes! They are aiming for people to be familiar with Nintendo characters and ideas, which will hopefully lead to them buying consoles and games. You can see Miitomo as another manifestation of this.

    Females don't care about Nintendo games. I recall reading the Wii U E Shop statistics for gender. 92% of users were male.

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    Dalai

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    The Disney demographic, which is mostly kids and families, but can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

    Should Nintendo really try to target everyone? I heard a marketing advice that products need to have a target audience.

    Nintendo absolutely has a target audience, but it's less based on age and more on lifestyle, I think. It's a reason why the Wii was successful. It wasn't about when you were born, but kinds of games you like, which skews more family friendly and casual. The nostalgia effect exists, but isn't really that prominent otherwise the Wii U would be selling much better.

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    Hunkulese

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    #13  Edited By Hunkulese

    @moywar700 said:

    I always thought it was so strange how Nintendo tried to target every single demographic with the Wii. It made me feel like the product wasn't made for me. They should had targeted teens to early 30's with the console.

    Why? There were already two other consoles targeting that market and Nintendo obviously made the smart choice with the Wii.

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    paulmako

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    #14  Edited By paulmako

    Females don't care about Nintendo games. I recall reading the Wii U E Shop statistics for gender. 92% of users were male.

    That is a pretty blanket statement that I don't believe. For a recent example, when I am playing Mario Maker you see tons of guys and girls playing and uploading levels.

    Also, if it was true that women don't care about Nintendo games, then surely it makes sense for Nintendo to look into how they can make them care.

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    BisonHero

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    @paulmako said:

    They want to have everyone engaging with Nintendo properties, while also bringing in people who haven't played games that much.

    But don't take my word for it! Here are some quotes straight from Nintendo.

    From the current 'Message from the President' on the Nintendo website:

    "With the belief in our mission to put smiles on people's faces around the world through products and services, we have followed our basic strategy of expanding the gaming population by offering products that can be enjoyed by everyone regardless of age, gender or gaming experience."

    The next couple of quotes are from the Third Quarter Financial Q and A with Kimishima:

    From Question 8:

    "To expand this business in the next fiscal year, reaching young consumers and women and expanding our sales of our evergreen titles will be key."

    And one big but informative quote from Question 5:

    "We want to have everyone become familiar with our IP by reaching as many people as possible from an early age within their daily lives. Our long-term strategy is to spark our consumers' interest in playing Nintendo game systems and encouraging continued growth of our games business.

    I can provide a couple of examples from outside of Japan. In America, many children are using electric toothbrushes featuring Mario characters to brush their teeth every day. We have also worked with a shoe company to launch shoes that feature the designs of Nintendo game systems. As you know, we are also working on a theme park featuring Nintendo IP. Our policy and the focus of our current activities is to create more chances for our consumers to experience the charm of Nintendo IP."

    So they want everyone to know about Nintendo. They don't want it to feel off limits to anyone. They also want to let children know about Mario through toothbrushes! They are aiming for people to be familiar with Nintendo characters and ideas, which will hopefully lead to them buying consoles and games. You can see Miitomo as another manifestation of this.

    Females don't care about Nintendo games. I recall reading the Wii U E Shop statistics for gender. 92% of users were male.

    It could be that a lot of the female users of the Wii U eShop can't be bothered to fill out the feedback surveys for eShop video games, or possibly just don't engage with the eShop much and more buy physical games. Anecdotally, I don't know many girls or women who own Wii U's because frankly you have to be a pretty intense Nintendo fan at this point to own one and it's a big investment and that mostly only describes males I know who are Nintendo lifers at this point. However, I know quite a few girls or women who are into the 3DS and the games it has.

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    moywar700

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    @paulmako said:

    Females don't care about Nintendo games. I recall reading the Wii U E Shop statistics for gender. 92% of users were male.

    That is a pretty blanket statement that I don't believe. For a recent example, when I am playing Mario Maker you see tons of guys and girls playing and uploading levels.

    Also, if it was true that women don't care about Nintendo games, then surely it makes sense for Nintendo to look into how they gain more interested from that demographic.

    Not a blanket statement anymore.
    https://mynintendonews.com/2014/08/28/nintendo-reveals-demographics-of-wii-u-eshop-users-males-account-for-93-and-females-only-7/

    Mostly males buy Nintendo games if I had to guess. The link I posts proves my point.

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    MezZa

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    #17  Edited By MezZa

    @moywar700: I think it's very odd to say that Nintendo should have done differently with the wii and just followed along Microsoft and sonys path when it was a huge money printing machine for them. They have been doing well by taking the Disney approach to games. Nintendo mascots are much more integrated in your average family culture than any particular character for other systems. The wii u is the only real flub they've had since the wii launched, and it's not like Sony and Microsoft are doing astronomically better by targeting the gamer bros of 13-30. Many are just relying on pc's this gen anyway. It sounds like the wii didn't have what you were looking for and maybe Nintendo as a whole doesn't as much. But that's the beauty of having three competitors who offer different experiences.

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    Hunkulese

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    @paulmako said:

    Females don't care about Nintendo games. I recall reading the Wii U E Shop statistics for gender. 92% of users were male.

    That is a pretty blanket statement that I don't believe. For a recent example, when I am playing Mario Maker you see tons of guys and girls playing and uploading levels.

    Also, if it was true that women don't care about Nintendo games, then surely it makes sense for Nintendo to look into how they gain more interested from that demographic.

    Not a blanket statement anymore.

    https://mynintendonews.com/2014/08/28/nintendo-reveals-demographics-of-wii-u-eshop-users-males-account-for-93-and-females-only-7/

    Mostly males buy Nintendo games if I had to guess. The link I posts proves my point.

    It's a meaningless number because it doesn't tell you who's using the shop. It tells you who fills out the surveys.

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    AdequatelyPrepared

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    Wii U failed because it confused the hell out of the more casual market that the Wii successfully tapped into, especially with the name. The price didn't exactly help matters either.

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    TheManWithNoPlan

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    @dixavd said:

    People who like good games and don't have the pre-concieved notion that everything has to be dark or edgy to be good. So children, and adults who've actually grown up?

    The correct answer.

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    paulmako

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    @moywar700 said:

    Not a blanket statement anymore.

    https://mynintendonews.com/2014/08/28/nintendo-reveals-demographics-of-wii-u-eshop-users-males-account-for-93-and-females-only-7/

    Mostly males buy Nintendo games if I had to guess. The link I posts proves my point.

    It was the 'females don't care about Nintendo games' line that I was calling a blanket statement.

    93% of Wii U eshop users in 2014 being male doesn't atomically mean that females don't care about Nintendo games.

    Like the quote I posted earlier says, Nintendo are looking to generate more female interest in their properties. That's a line straight from Nintendo.

    If the female demographic doesn't care at the moment then why wouldn't Nintendo try and gain their interest? Are you saying Nintendo should only target 15-30yr old males?

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    stonyman65

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    Little kids and nostalgic 30-somethings.

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    devise22

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    Nintendo is the Disney of the games industry. They pretty much mirror each other in every way, including the demographic they target.

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    SchrodngrsFalco

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    #24  Edited By SchrodngrsFalco

    @moywar700: But what does that number look like against the other consoles? What if that's more than the other consoles' eshops?

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    BabyChooChoo

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    Wii U failed because it confused the hell out of the more casual market that the Wii successfully tapped into, especially with the name. The price didn't exactly help matters either.

    About a year after the Wii U came out, I still remember my sister was going to get her son a Christmas present and was all like "well he already has a Wii so does he just need that controller tablet thing? I don't have to buy another Wii, right?" and on the inside I'm just going "Goddammit, Nintendo. You done fucked up."

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    audioBusting

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    @moywar700: Second-handedly hearing from Nintendo interviews like the old Iwata Asks, it sounds like most of their female demographic was/is on the 3DS. Hence games like Animal Crossing and Style Savvy on that platform. They're well aware of that market and they definitely have been trying to appeal to the gender demographics equally. It shows through little design choices even in their Wii U games, like Splatoon not defaulting to the boy character and such.

    Catering to multiple demographics is not necessarily a bad thing, and they target different demographics per product (e.g. Smash Bros and Animal Crossing are not marketed to the same people.) When you're a business of that size, you have enough capital to experiment, and diversifying your audience makes it safer.

    And speaking of targeting the < 30-year-old male "core gamers," Nintendo has dipped their toes in publishing games like Bayonetta 2. I don't think they did very well...

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    ripelivejam

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    People who like fucking awesome games, i hazard to guess.

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    ds9143

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    I play exclusively on PC, so not me I guess. Never really cared about Nintendo's first party or really any exclusives for that matter.

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    NeverGameOver

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    #30  Edited By NeverGameOver

    Answer: Kids. They market almost everything toward kids. The Wii was an exception. And that's not to say that they don't have substantial following of 30 somethings who grew up with the NES and SNES (because obviously they do). But Nintendo's strategy is to get people hooked on their IPs as children, in hopes that those people will continue to buy their products as they age. They don't market to adults and they almost tacitly acknowledge that any adults who don't already have a nostalgia for their games are a lost cause.

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    moywar700

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    @paulmako said:

    @moywar700 said:

    Not a blanket statement anymore.

    https://mynintendonews.com/2014/08/28/nintendo-reveals-demographics-of-wii-u-eshop-users-males-account-for-93-and-females-only-7/

    Mostly males buy Nintendo games if I had to guess. The link I posts proves my point.

    It was the 'females don't care about Nintendo games' line that I was calling a blanket statement.

    93% of Wii U eshop users in 2014 being male doesn't atomically mean that females don't care about Nintendo games.

    Like the quote I posted earlier says, Nintendo are looking to generate more female interest in their properties. That's a line straight from Nintendo.

    If the female demographic doesn't care at the moment then why wouldn't Nintendo try and gain their interest? Are you saying Nintendo should only target 15-30yr old males?

    Yes they should try to market to teenagers and early 30's. I remember seeing a commercial about the Wii U and it appears like they were trying to target an old lady with Wii Fit. Products need a target audience. People will usually like the product better if they know it's made for them.



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    shivermetimbers

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    Nintendo is in a position where it can dominate both its mainline first party market and 'hardcore' audience of 20-40 year olds with disposable income if they can play their cards right with the NX. It needs good third party support to achieve this, as Nintendo's family friendly mantra will only get them so far for so long. If they can prove that they can support a foundation for both kinds of audiences while maintaining their rep as the 'fun' games console, they can really do well, IMHO.

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    jakob187

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    #33  Edited By jakob187

    Nintendo's target demographic is anything with a pulse at this point. I'm surprised they didn't try selling the Wii to your fucking house pets, honestly.

    They've always pushed for that child audience (somewhere in between 8-14), and then they have the nostalgia group (20-40). Beyond that, it all comes down to what the hardware can do, how much shovelware is being pushed out, and how they can sell it. The Nintendo hardcores will always have the new system for the first party exclusives.

    Honestly, they just need to do the smart thing: drop the hardware and go software-only. Hell, I'd even be okay with them going handheld-only! The DS portables have been better than the consoles by miles in most cases.

    This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:

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