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Japan
The Wii sets new generational standards for the videogame industry

Mis en ligne le 17/07/2007

The ageing of the Japanese population compelled gamemaker Nintendo to widen its audience. Now, the Wii is leading the industry standards. But hardcore gamers are still too important to be neglected.

Alarm bells went off at game-maker Nintendo Co. (NTDOY) about three years ago when it learned the number of males under the age of 25 in Japan was declining.
The trend threatened to decimate a demographic representing the hard-core gamer, which generated most of Nintendo's revenue.
As Nintendo Chief Executive Satoru Iwata would later put it, Nintendo then decided it was time to attract a whole new audience ranging in age from "9 to 95."
As the gaming industry heads to Southern California for a major trade show beginning Tuesday, Nintendo's strategy to attack a broader demographic has not only helped turn the company around, its success has helped spark industrywide changes in the way games are sold, and who plays them.
Shorter, less complex games, more user-friendly controllers like the Nintendo's motion-sensitive Wii, and online features have become the norm as the entire gaming industry pushes aggressively to attract customers outside the 16-to-25 year-old male demographic, say executives interviewed for this story.
Females now make up about 30% of the people who buy Nintendo's Wii game console, said George Harrison, a senior vice president of Nintendo of America Inc., a subsidiary of Nintendo Ltd. in Japan.
Typically, the percentage of females buying consoles is less than 10%.
Meanwhile, the company is spending heavily to market its games to more women and seniors, especially in Europe, where actress Nicole Kidman is pitching a new lineup of "brain-training" games aimed at seniors.
The Wii is proving to be a market force. It is outselling Sony Corp.'s (SNE) PlayStation 3 console by four to one and Microsoft's Xbox 360 console by two to one in the U.S., the world's largest videogame market, according to NPD Group Inc. In Japan, Wii sales have been even stronger, outselling the PS3 six to one last month and the XBox 360 by even more, according to the latest survey by market-research firm Enterbrain Inc.
Microsoft says it has seen success in catering to a broader audience by simplifying the game process, and making it more social. Rumor has it the company is also developing a Wii-like motion-sensitive controller to help capture more of the casual-gaming market.
Games aimed at a much wider demographics are expected to steal some spotlight at this week's E3 conference.
To be sure, the strategy has its risks. Companies can't lose focus on the hard-core gamers that remain the industry's core and are responsible for up to a third of the money spent on videogames and consoles. By shifting emphasis to other customers, game makers risk losing that audience or having them go elsewhere for their games.
But something clearly must be done, or risk having the increasing casual-gamer market look elsewhere for their entertainment, the executives said.

(Dow Jones News Service, 10/07/2007 : "Wii helps shift videogame cos' focus to nontraditional users")

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