| Nautilus said:
The first thing would be marketing.Even though we all know that the early PS4 success is largely due to the total screw up by Nintendo and Microsoft (the 2013 E3 is certainly memorable because of this), it’s easy to forget that their marketing strategy also played a large role into this. It’s not the amount of ads on TVs or promotions on local retailers that I’m talking about, but the content and theme of the marketing itself.Its something we take for granted now, as if it were obvious from the beginning, but the majority of people that game nowadays are usually adults in their mid 20 and 30s.People that grew up with gaming, and now have an stable income and can afford himself to spend a little more money on hobbies such as gaming.And Sony marketing reflects that.Now look at the marketing strategy ever since the Switch was first revealed back in October.See a resemblance?Nintendo finally understood that its current fanbase is older now.Not only that, but the ones that buy consoles in its launch, or even in its first year, when its more expensive, it’s the more dedicated gamers.And even Nintendo acknowledged that.In it’s recent fiscal year report, Nintendo said the majority of Switch buyers were men in their 20s and early 30s.And its ads certainly reflects that, in which the persons featured in the commercials are always young adults. |
With regards to this point, I don't think it's as much Nintendo learning from Sony, but actually Nintendo learning from their own mistakes. Advertising was virtually non-existant with the regards to the Wii U. When it released, they pretty much just assumed it would succeed on the basis of being the successor to the 100 million+ selling Wii. Unfortunately, a large amount of people who bought the Wii were not dedicated gamers with their ears to the ground who knew what the Wii U was. This created an identity crisis for the Wii U, which too many people just assumed was an expensive add on for the Wii which they already had. Nintendo corrected this when marketing the Switch. #1, they paid for a Super Bowl advertisement for the first time in their company's history. Wanting to get the message out to as many people as possible, they bought an ad slot viewed by over 111 million people. #2, they showcased exactly what the Nintendo Switch was right in that commercial. A single device that could seemlessly be played on your television and then carried right out the door with you to continue on the go. So no, I don't think that had anything to do with watching Sony marketing, but rather correcting mistakes with their own (and previous lack thereof).
