How do you win in the Game Industry?“I want you all to consider what I am about to suggest to you. You people seem to want what we've got. Well, we have room for you. We have room for you and about 30 of your friends. You would be students of course, but you'd also be teachers. ”
– Walter (Brian Dennehy) – Cocoon (1985)
How do you win in the PC/CE industry? Every engineer…every marketing “expert” knows the answer. You give ‘em more. More features. More fun. More quality. More bells. More whistles. You give ‘em less. Lower cost.
That’s the way the gaming industry does it and conventional wisdom (don’t you love that word?) “proves” it works. After all, “everyone” knows gamers are 14-24 year old guys who:
- love the smell of napalm in the morning and squealing tires
- want their women overly endowed and ready for action
- like their mechanical and alien competitors big, ugly and without conscience
- can sit in their dank rooms 4-8 hours straight without bathing or relieving themselves
If any of the other 6+ billion people on the planet buy into the gaming buzz fine.
Global Population – Today there are over 6.6 billion people on the planet. All are potential customers for …something. All those of us in the industry need to do is figure out what it is…boy that was simple! Source – U.S. Census Bureau.
They don’t really count though. You may think of this stuff as simply…games. To the hardware/software folks involved…it’s serious stuff! Right now the market is on track to become a $50+ billion global business.
No Game – Those of us who play them just think of gaming systems as idle time games. But to the hardware, software and subscription service people who make their living in this space it is serious business. Source – Informa Telecoms & Media. Even by MS standards that’s not chump change! Ok so it’s big…huge even.
So how would you have like to have been the guys who bounded into Iwata-san’s (now president) and Yamauchi-san’s (founder and CEO until 2002) offices and said you wanted to develop game systems that wouldn’t compete with Sony’s PS or Microsoft’s Xbox?
They want to develop this people-oriented system that anyone could buy and play. They wanted it kid and adult friendly. They wanted to call it something that was part of the family. How about…Wii? Bad idea? While MS and Sony were pushing the fast track, Nintendo took the road less traveled.
Game reviewers fought each other to write the most glowing coverage possible for the powerhouse Sony, MS systems. Words flowed in adrenalin fashion over the systems and the games. Reviewers flipped coins to see who would review the Nintendo Wii. The losers got stuck with the job. But something went awry in the brilliant MS/Sony planning and reviewer accolades. As Walter/Dennehy said… “Every 10 or 11,000 years I make a horrible mistake.”
Time to step back and look how and why Nintendo tapped a market that logic (don’t you love that word?) says wasn’t there. It’s a shift in the post-modern world that can help the entire PC/CE. The signs were there…we just didn’t pay any attention. The Internet and gaming isn’t a 20+ stud domain!
Truth is:
- 18-49 gamers are only 44% of the market. 56% is “other” (see Figure 3)
- nearly 52% of the internet users are female (see Figure 4)
- 54% of the online game players are female
- 66% of females watch videos online
- 75%+ of the online gamers are women
- Women are different from men (surprise!)
- Older & younger players like to interact with others
Not All 20-Something – Turns out that not everyone who is a potential game system/software customer is 18-24 and male. They are younger and older and also…female. Source – Ipsos Insights
Female Domination – While men tend to think that men dominate the Internet – and by that definition also gaming – but it turns out women are on the iNet in greater numbers…over 51% are female. Source – eMarketer
Faith Popcorn, president of BrainReserve, identified two concepts – clicking (pinpointing lifestyle trends) and cocooning (retreating into the home and doing things as a family) years ago.
She identified females and families as a dominant force – for long term sales – in the market.
Sometimes referred to as the Nostradamus of marketing, her work and predictions rang true for Nintendo and software/online subscription services have gotten the message.
Maybe the rest of the industry will follow suit!
Continued on next page...
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