Nintendo will always have the kiddie image. No point in getting upset over it. It is what it is.

TheMisterManGuy said: Nintendo has always had somewhat of "Kiddie" stigma attached to them. It was especially bad in the GameCube era where as the rest of the industry was focusing more and more on guns, blood, and boobs. Nintendo gave gamers cartoon Zelda, Eco Mario, and candy colored ant games as the big titles. They made attempts to win the "Mature gamer" with Metroid Prime, and Eternal Darkness. But laughable marketing, and lack of third party support prevented gamers from taking it seriously. With Nintendo Switch, times have changed. Not only is the console much sleeker than the GameCube ever was, not only do Nintendo's newer titles feel ballsier and less risk-averse. But the gaming landscape has changed. Rocket League, Fortnite, Overwatch, Minecraft, among others are all popular with kids, teens, and adults. You still have your gritty titles, but it no longer feels like the industry is trying to grow up, as it already has. Switch also has reliable third party support for once, unlike the GameCube. And Mature games are also selling well on it. With all this, do you feel that Switch has for the most part, completely erased Nintendo's "kiddy" image? I mean, it was understandable in the Gamecube era, and Nintendo wasn't helping at all. But with the Switch? There's no real excuse.

I always found that perception to be ironic when the Gamecube had the uncensored version of BMX XXX, while the PS2 version was censored.

Soundwave said: Megiddo said: In Japan at least, 35% of the active Switch users in May were under 14. It's pretty much on par with 3DS which had 35% of active users under 14. Compare this with the PS4 which had 7.5% of active users under 14 in May. Source: https://www.resetera.com/threads/demographics-for-consoles-pc-smartphones-in-japan-may-2018.52871/ That's actually pretty low to be honest. Only 35% of the 3DS base in Japan is under 14? That means 65% is over 14, and Japan tends to be a market that skews a bit younger at least for Nintendo it seems.  The split for 3DS is probably more like 70/30 or 75/25 in the West.  In the US you can see the Switch split from Nintendo here 15 and under portion of the Switch buyer base is only a mere 10%. Now that number will likely grow as time goes on, but I don't think it will be as much as people think because it's going to be offset by a flood of 18+ year olds buying a Switch as the years go on from the Wii/DS era (kids who fell in love with Nintendo from the years 2004-2009 primarily). That is likely to be a bumper crop of 18+ year olds for Nintendo that will counter balance the under-15 crowd of Switch kids.

Only 12.5% of Japan's population is under 14. It is a demographic saturated with ~ 15 million consoles or so. This means Nintendo consoles are about three times over-represented in that demographic bracket, and three times under-represented in the others. That's a spread, overall, of almost an order of magnitude. It's very significant.

Besides, the question is a bit iffy and the survey very non-scientific. It could very well be parents who had the strongest wish to buy it since they are the ones with money and a desire for their brats not to bother them anymore about it... :)

Of course, all would agree the e-mails tied to Switch accounts are certainly skewed towards an older demographic by default.

TheMisterManGuy said: Mummelmann said: I don't think all that much has changed, on the surface they're still relying on pretty much the same system selling software and they're infamous for censoring or even or even disallowing certain titles or features from e-shop or networks due to it being inappropriate for children. Embracing a form factor that is more than a little reminiscent of the one most widespread among youth and kids won't help in this regard either (tablets and smartphone games are immensely popular among younger customers and gamers). But it doesn't really matter, what matters is appeal, and appeal seems really good at the moment, as is reflected in the sales. This image is likely to stick with them, much like the dudebro image of the Xbox, especially since in both instances, the respective companies aren't really doing much to combat it. ??? Elaborate Please?

Most well-known are probably the Binding of Isaac and refusal to accept same sex relationships in Tomodachi Life. They eventually folded on the Binding of Isaac issue though, but it took a long time. They have a history of "shielding" their customers against things they deem unsafe for children, there was also the debacle concerning voice chat on the Switch, where children were more or less prohibited from using the feature at all. Things like that, paired with their continued use of their well-known mascots and evergreens contribute to a perpetuation of their image. That's not to say that their actual customers are kids, their average age demographic is among the oldest of all platforms. But the image persists and there are several reasons why.

The Switch is marketed more towards adults or young professionals but the internal policies on the platform itself and the overall external image through main franchises and mascots remain more or less the same. They've made an active effort to garner more "mature" support, but it doesn't seem to change all that much either. Perhaps if they had more simultaneous releases on par with PS4/One, things would gradually change. But for now, the Switch, like the machines that came before it (post SNES anyway) are where you go to play 1st party titles with cute mascots and run the risk of running into strange or even non-existent technical solutions designed to shield you from the world and market at large.

Regardless of all that; I'm still happy with mine and I gladly pay those games, as well as a few remakes or re-releases since I've missed three generations in a row. It has absolutely no bearing on my enjoyment of the machine itself.

I'm 42 years old.

I always thought Nintendo had a "timeless" image. Sega painted them as kiddie in the 90s (or was that NEC?) and it took but I never really saw them that way. In fact, I always thought the Wii was the "old man" console. My wife's dad even had one and challenged me to bowling.

Mummelmann said: Most well-known are probably the Binding of Isaac and refusal to accept same sex relationships in Tomodachi Life. They eventually folded on the Binding of Isaac issue though, but it took a long time. They have a history of "shielding" their customers against things they deem unsafe for children, there was also the debacle concerning voice chat on the Switch, where children were more or less prohibited from using the feature at all. Things like that, paired with their continued use of their well-known mascots and evergreens contribute to a perpetuation of their image. That's not to say that their actual customers are kids, their average age demographic is among the oldest of all platforms. But the image persists and there are several reasons why. The Switch is marketed more towards adults or young professionals but the internal policies on the platform itself and the overall external image through main franchises and mascots remain more or less the same. They've made an active effort to garner more "mature" support, but it doesn't seem to change all that much either. Perhaps if they had more simultaneous releases on par with PS4/One, things would gradually change. But for now, the Switch, like the machines that came before it (post SNES anyway) are where you go to play 1st party titles with cute mascots and run the risk of running into strange or even non-existent technical solutions designed to shield you from the world and market at large. Regardless of all that; I'm still happy with mine and I gladly pay those games, as well as a few remakes or re-releases since I've missed three generations in a row. It has absolutely no bearing on my enjoyment of the machine itself.

Voice Chat on Switch, silly as it is, is not a children's protection act. That's just what fans assume. But fans are stupid and will blame anything on "protecting the children". The reason stated I believe has more to do with the fact that everyone has a smartphone, and in Japan talking through the phone online is apparently more popular than traditional headsets (or so I've heard). The implementation could be better, but it has nothing to do with keeping kids safe. 

The second bolded is also untrue. Nintendo changed a lot of its internal policies regarding developers for the Switch. It's to the point where they pretty much will let anything on the system. And people are actually buying third party games on Switch. In fact, third party sales are generally on par with and in the case of indies, even exceed the other 3 platforms. 

I don't think so. They've still got Mario, Pokemon, Kirby and so on... it's a tag that they'll never drop.

And that's a good thing, now that they're branching out and including more mature games, it shows that they've got variety.

Soundwave said: Again look at the US demographic image again

Do you see the question that was asked for that poll?

"How old is the person in your household which has the strongest desire to purchase a Nintendo Switch?"

Do you see the verb being used there? It's not own a Switch. It's not play a Switch. It's purchase a Switch.

I hope you're intelligent enough to figure out how that just might skew demographic data a bit.

TheMisterManGuy said: Voice Chat on Switch, silly as it is, is not a children's protection act. That's just what fans assume. But fans are stupid and will blame anything on "protecting the children". The reason stated I believe has more to do with the fact that everyone has a smartphone, and in Japan talking through the phone online is apparently more popular than traditional headsets (or so I've heard). The implementation could be better, but it has nothing to do with keeping kids safe.

You believe, so you're just assuming too then. I think Nintendo's history holds more weight than "I believe." They shut down swapnote specifically to protect the children, don't see why you'd be stupid for thinking further restrictions are done for the same reason. Plus it's either that, or Nintendo is dumb and incompetent. The existence of smartphones is not an excuse to half-ass/omit the most basic of features.

Nintendo's kiddie image was just their competitors trying to make Nintendo's greatest strength into a weakness. Nintendo typically excels at making games for everyone. That's why Marvel movies are sooooo popular.  Do only kids watch that? No.  Everyone does. It takes a lot of skill to make a movie that appeals to kids and adults. This used to be the norm back in the day but now people see it as the exception. This is mostly because Nintendo is the only console manufacturer still from the classic gaming age. (Atari, Hudson and Sega are all gone). 

Even in the 80's this wasn't even true. More than 40% of NES gamers were over the age of 18.  The kiddie image was always a marketing strategy. It worked for a time. I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes completely discredited by the end of the 9th generation though. I expect Nintendo knows that their competitors are trying to pigeonhole them but you can see Nintendo is fighting it. Why else would they be so adamant about bringing mature games on their system?