Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata has an interesting theory regarding the loyal fanbase that’s kept 3DS hardware and software sales up, and the Wii U still relevant that has kept the company in the running in spite of three challenging years.
He noted in his recent investor’s meeting that preorders for Super Smash Bros for Wii U and 3DS, as well as for Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, are on the upswing, and he thinks he knows why.
Consumers in the 18 to 25 age group comprised a large percentage of people who bought Super Smash Bros for the 3DS. They were 30 percent of all buyers in Japan, and as much as 50 percent of all buyers in US and Europe.
Iwata points out that this generation of fans were in elementary school when Super Smash Bros Melee and Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire were first released. Melee came out in 2001, and the Pokemon games a year later. This generation is now old enough to buy their own games, and Iwata expects them to raise Nintendo’s income with high sales of Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
When asked about it further by an investor in the succeeding Q&A, Iwata pointed out that this generation of fans is helping spread the word on Nintendo’s products, by talking about it on social media and recommending it to friends in the same age group.
Nintendo is putting some serious thought on what games they can make to cater to this particular age group. Aside from the actual games, however, Nintendo hopes to create a recommendation system/algorithm that will direct fans to buy more of the same type of games that they like.
Nintendo’s fanbase may seem small, even marginalized, to gamers who play on other platforms and consoles. Here and now, however, Nintendo sees an opportunity in catering to these gamers exclusively, as we just saw once again with the announcement of Majora’s Mask 3D. While they prepare plans to expand their reach into another blue ocean with QOL, Nintendo hopes this will be more than enough to keep them profitable, if not prolific.
