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[Merlin]

From The Times newspaper:

Grey matters as games maker seeks new targets
By Dan Sabbagh
Why Nintendo needs to appeal to a new audience

NINTENDO, the Japanese computer games maker behind playground favourites such as Mario Brothers and Donkey Kong, wants us to think again. The company is gearing up for a £2 million marketing campaign, which will see it take ads in Saga magazine — a title for over 50s — because it has come to the conclusion that targeting young adults is no longer enough.

Improbable as it may sound, Nintendo is preparing to launch Brain Training, a handheld puzzle game aimed at the over 45s, a group of people who until now have not been noted for skateboarding, listening to rap, or carrying handheld computers. Yet the game is crucial to Nintendo’s new “Keep Evolving” strategy, which it will unveil on Tuesday.

Dawn Paine, UK marketing director, says: “The games industry is just going to have to expand the market. Although there has been good growth in terms of units and value over the last 20 years, the proportion of people actually owning games machines has plateaued at around 30 per cent.”

Brain Training, for the Nintendo DS, is devised by Ryuta Kawashima, a brain imaging expert from Tohoku University. Players have to complete a series of puzzles against the clock, which helps to determine their “brain age”. Unsurprisingly, the argument runs that the more you play the game, the better your brain age will become. As well as ads in unusual places, Nintendo is hoping to promote Brain Training through Mensa, the society for people with high IQs.

It also hopes to sponsor newspaper crosswords and Su Doku puzzles and place ads in programmes such as Countdown.

The game was first launched in Japan last May, and has sold more than one million units, with demand gradually growing. Brain Training 2 sold 500,000 units in its first week and while it is not certain that the Japanese consumer is any guide to Britons’ buying habits, the success of Nintendo’s venture gives the company cause for optimism. A game called Nintendogs became an unexpected hit in Europe last year, selling 1.5 million units out of four million worldwide. The game requires owners to take care of an electronic hound by carrying out various tasks. The dog can be stroked via the touch screen and given commands using a built-in microphone. Pooch can be walked too, and if another Nintendog is in range, it will bark.

The pet lovers’ game represents another, and apparently successful, attempt to expand the gaming market by targeting women. Paine says that “the usual proportion of girl gamers is about 30 per cent” but Nintendogs buyers were “55 per cent female”, a marked shift. If that is not enough, other games being showcased next week are Trauma Center, in which you are a doctor who has to conduct operations using the stylus to stitch people up. If that’s too demanding, there is Electroplankton, a curious game in which players fiddle about with animated objects until they feel relaxed — and there’s not a gun in sight. All will be launched in the spring.

Underlying the company’s move is also a competitive threat. Until the arrival of Sony, with its more expensive PSP last year, Nintendo had a monopoly on handheld games. “They needed to respond,” says Ben Keen, a games industry analyst with Screen Digest. “With Sony positioning the PSP as a multi-purpose, general entertainment device, it makes sense to aim for new games genres with titles like Nintendogs.”

Nintendo has a battle on its hands, though. Screen Digest reckons that two million PSPs — which cost £179.99 and can play music and film — will have been sold by the end of this year in the UK compared with 1.3 million of Nintendo’s DS, which costs £89.99. Graphically the PSP is superior and there is evidence that people are buying films to play on the PSP — about 400,000 were sold in Britain last year. The handheld games market is worth £250 million annually.

Although the company talks about ending “the stereotype that gamers are either geeks or simply 18 to 34-year-old men”, it has a battle to prove that it can find a viable market outside that space — and ensure that it is not squashed by Sony and whoever comes to take it on in the future.

 

[E-Nature]

Curious how my parents are going to like this game! (they usually never play any video games)

 

[Icanplaythat]

Your avatar is giving me a pokemon-like seizure.

 

[littlewig]

Nintendo has a battle on its hands, though. Screen Digest reckons that two million PSPs — which cost £179.99 and can play music and film — will have been sold by the end of this year in the UK compared with 1.3 million of Nintendo’s DS, which costs £89.99. Graphically the PSP is superior and there is evidence that people are buying films to play on the PSP

I reckon Nintendo are doomed!

 

[radioheadrule83]

Screen Digest are more than reputable forecasters, but I think they'll have egg on their face with that one by Xmas 06.

I'm not sure about the over 50s mag, but the Sudoku marketing could really help where Brain Training is concerned. I agree with people in other threads about BT. The price has to be right. They should price it as an affordable title, as they have in Japan.

 

[Calidor]

should be interesting, but i think BT is gonna bomb over EU and USA

 

[Shiggy]

should be interesting, but i think BT is gonna bomb over EU and USA

Yes, it will bomb like Nintendogs :lol

 

[Kobun Heat]

Do you have a link to the original?

 

[Izzy]

Nintendo has a battle on its hands, though. Screen Digest reckons that two million PSPs — which cost £179.99 and can play music and film — will have been sold by the end of this year in the UK compared with 1.3 million of Nintendo’s DS, which costs £89.99.

Does that include Toys R US?

 

[radioheadrule83]

Does that include Toys R US?

lollerskates

Screen Digest is a researcher/forecaster... I guess it depends on whether they were forecasting Chart Track numbers or not

 

[Merlin]

Do you have a link to the original?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,16749-2000788,00.html

 

[Kobun Heat]

Thanks. I'd really been looking for some concrete info about how exactly Nintendo plans to market Brain Training in the West -- hopefully there will be more at DICE, and if not, I'll drill Reggie on it Shoe-on-Moore style until he coughs up some info.

 

[Mrbob]

Does that include Toys R US?

:lol

This is a smart move by Nintendo. They are aiming for markets right now Sony isn't even going after.

I think it is time to truly look at the DS and PSP and say they aren't even attempting to go after the same market at all. Look at the top selling games on each platform. There is zero crossover between the two portables. People try to equate this to the Genesis and Super Nintendo, but this comparison isn't even correct. With the Genesis and Super Nintendo, there were a ton of 3rd party games released at the same time on both platforms, with first party games being the major difference. The PSP and DS have virtually no common games at all. I'm sure the Socomers are ready for a rousing game of Nintendogs after they complete their mission! And vice versa.

 

[Archie]

God knows the first thing I do after I feed my puppy in Nintendogs is shoot a few people in LCS :lol

edit: And I'm glad that Nintendo is giving Brain Training a good marketing push.

 

[elostyle]

PLEASE CHANGE THAT AVATAR, I AM GOING TO DIE OTHERWISE.

 

[cvxfreak]

I can't wait to try the Brain Training games myself. Would be a good thing to play while on break without having to leave learning mode.

 

[Oblivion]

I think it is time to truly look at the DS and PSP and say they aren't even attempting to go after the same market at all. Look at the top selling games on each platform. There is zero crossover between the two portables. People try to equate this to the Genesis and Super Nintendo, but this comparison isn't even correct. With the Genesis and Super Nintendo, there were a ton of 3rd party games released at the same time on both platforms, with first party games being the major difference. The PSP and DS have virtually no common games at all. I'm sure the Socomers are ready for a rousing game of Nintendogs after they complete their mission! And vice versa.

The markets in America seem totally different, but Japan seems to be a bit more similar.

 

[jamesinclair]

Keep evolving = new slogan?

Touching is good died?

 

[littlewig]

PSP is doing pretty poorly if it has no competition...

 

[Merlin]

Keep evolving = new slogan?

Touching is good died?

"Touch Me" was the slogan in the UK

 

[ziran]

Some Saga magazine info:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=14344

Following the announcement that Nintendo is planning to advertise in Saga magazine, editor Emma Soames has told GamesIndustry.biz that there is a growing appetite for videogames amongst older people.

"Our readers demonstrate an enormous appetite for games, both online and offline," Soames said...



..The Saga Group specialises in offering a wide range of products, including holidays and financial services, to people over the age of 50. Saga magazine has a monthly circulation of 1.2 million and a readership of more than 2 million...



..."We've done several pieces in the magazine recently drawing on medical research which shows it is exactly that - if you don't use it, you lose it. [Playing games] is one of the ways to stay mentally sharp and alert."...



..."It's a very exciting market and as older people become more and more computer literate, and they've got a little bit more time on their hands, they just love it; there's a real appetite for it. There's a real awareness out there and I think people are hungry for new experiences - they're up for it."...

More at the link.

 

[tanasten]

Hi, my firts post there, but long time reading.

About the topic, I want to say that it's gona be pretty interesting how Europe will react to this game. I think that Nintendogs was a pretty interesting publishing, buit Brain Training series are too much because it's a tipe of game that fits well on the european filosofy.

I can see there in Europe (Spain actually) hundreds of people reading intelectual books, playing sudoku-mania and tose tipe of games. Also on mobile gaming (and being a developer) almost everyone downloads classic, licenced or IQ based games.

If the thing works there, I expect a total revolution on gaming in Europe, where a lot of developers are gonna go for a research on this tipe of games.

I'm hoping to get games like Trauma Center, Lost in Blue, Phoenix Wright, Brain Training and moreover Electroplancton because I think they're gona make me think and enjoy learning and wanting to know more. I think that a lot of people are feeling better after playing these games.

If Nintendogs have had a better impact there than in Japan and in the USAs, ¿why not those games?

Please, forget my poor english. It's a pleasure to share my thougths with all of you.

Tanasten

 

[Archie]

Does anyone know if the American brain training games will be getting sudoku? I found out about it a few days ago and am addicted to it.

 

[Roders5]

I read on GameCentral (channel 4 teletext, anyone else read it?) that Brian Training was on This Morning with Fern and Philip, did anyone see this? Certainly good publicity if them two liked it.