Why Is Nintendo Considered For Children?

[binary solo]

awesomeabe1998 said:

I was wondering this almost ever since I got a Wii U. Now I know Nintendo have franchises with cartoon mascots like Mario and Donkey Kong but why is Nintendo childish for having these franchises while Sony has Knack, Little Big Planet and had Crash Bandicoot? Is it the name "Nintendo" that bugs people? I have never seen a child who mastered Call of Duty or BF master Mario.

So what is it?

None of these titles have been put forward as the defining game or franchise for PS. KZ: Shadowfall was the most promoted first party game for PS4, then came Knack and arguably inFamous Second Son was as equally promoted as Knack pre-launch. On PS3 it was Uncharted, GoW, KZ, Resistance all marketed more strongly than LBP. And of course the perennial franchise for brand PS is Gran Turismo.

Difficulty to master is not what defines kiddie vs mature.

The top 3 brand defining franchises for Nintendo are, and seem to have always been:

1 Mario - kiddie style, G rated.

2 Pokemon - kiddie style, G rated.

3 LoZ - kiddie style, G rated.

Nintendo seems to be living in the past where it was older kids and young teens who got their parents to buy them a console and it was the G-rated cartoony  games that attracted the sales. But that ended in the mid 90's when gaming became an adult pastime too, and now it's the dad (usually) who decides what console to get because he wants to play the "mature" content games, but as a sop to the wifey he points out all the cool kids games that the young'uns can play too, and promptly proceeds not to buy them, mostly.

Can Nintendo pull its head out of the past? I dunno. It would mean replacing one of the top 3 brand defining franchises wth something that directly appeals to the dad (and dude) gamers, and it needs to be a must have game. Nintendo needs its own Uncharted, or God of War, or Halo, or Gears of War to excite that segment of the market. And it needs the full force of Nintendo marketing behind it. Though what marketing does Nintendo really do. They have mostly relied on the fact that Mario and Pokemon market themselves.