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Soundwave on 19 February 2015
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sc94597 said:
Soundwave said:

I never saw any elderly people playing Brain Training period. Go to an airport, you'll see adults killing time playing on their iPhone allllllll the time. 

Brain Training's appeal was actually more with cashing in on women's insecurities about aging (hence the Nicole Kidman commercials), but that audience is extremely fickle, there's always some new diet fad/craze/anti-aging cream that they get obsessed with every year or so. 


They were a demographic. 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22253758

My Great-Grandmother (who is 91 now) uses it as part of her dementia therapy, and my grandmother (61 years old) used to play it all the time. 

Sure the middle-aged population were also a demographic, but certainly they weren't the only one. 

By the way, all consumers who aren't hobbyists are fickle. The CoD brogamers and Guitar Hero players are just as fickle as Brain Age and Wii Series gamers. Only a moderately sized niche of gamers are dedicated fans who won't change their tastes and who will buy the same thing again and again. The reason why these consumers of such demographics moved elsewhere to find entertainment was because the games that targeted them were not innovating, and they got bored. This doesn't make such demographics the problem, but the developers/publishers. 


So why did your grandmother stop? There is Brain Training for a 3DS, but I'm guessing she doesn't want to spend $170 + $20 more for more Brain Training. 

Actually for a senior, a tablet is probably better anyway, the far larger display is easier to read. There are a multitude of Brain Training style games on the app stores too. 

COD brogamers who make have bought a Guitar Hero or even a Wii Sports as a one-off still buy consoles and really don't need to be convinced to buy video games. They would buy video games even if you set up a fire hydrant outside of a store and blasted them with water to try to keep them away. 

The Brain Training/Wii Fit crowd saw the iPhone/app store and were done with $30+ games tied to their TV or a seperate portable gaming device period. Is Kim Kardashian's iPhone game innovation? Is Candy Crush with paid DLC innovation? Flappy Bird?

These people don't want innovation. Maybe we should just accept that this portion of the game market is more like the people who watch primarily reality TV shows on TV. They don't want deep or even particularily good games, they just want something easy to play and simple and preferably cheap that fits into their smartphone anchored social life.  

That's the difference. COD gamers are still here pumping billions into the traditional game market, casuals are not.