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Soundwave on 09 February 2015
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RolStoppable said:
curl-6 said:

Doesn't seem a great idea to me, hedging your bets on an audience that may not even exist. It worked ten years ago because there was a clear untapped audience, but where's the clear untapped audience today, and what makes you think Nintendo could tap them even if they are out there? Sounds to me like stakng everything on a miracle.

I like your revisionist history. If that untapped audience was so clear ten years ago, then how come that the entire industry, including analysts, was completely caught off guard?


It was clear that there were large swaths of people that didn't play games. I don't think that was a shock to anyone. Nintendo was talking about it even before the Wii/DS, Pac-Man VS. was one example, even the GameCube controller with a large A button was an attempt to ease in to casuals. 

Getting to them was the issue, that's what caught people off guard. But really Sony/MS didn't even try because they had no reason to. 

And just because all this is true of 10 years ago, the more pertinent point is ... so what? It isn't 10 years ago anymore. Looking backwards to 10 years ago doesn't help Nintendo now, anymore than looking back to the 80s would've helped Nintendo in the 90s. 

The situation has changed. There is no magical untapped demographics of people who can't access video games today, virtually every imaginable demographic is well served today whereas it was not in 10 years ago. You can't just invent a demographic of people.