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Nintendo reveals demographics of Wii U eShop users (age ranges, 93M:7F gender ratio)

John Harker

Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
I'm blown away by that 90% online. I wonder what the rest of current gen is at.

It's 70% of 63% of the wii u audience that these numbers represent. And it doesn't really account for frequency of use or purchase habits, mind you.

Just something to consider.
 
It's 70% of 63% of the wii u audience that these numbers represent. And it doesn't really account for frequency of use or purchase habits, mind you.

Just something to consider.

It's 70% of 90% (63%), not 70% of 63%. 90% have connected to the Internet, 70% of that 90% have used the eShop, and "many" are repeat customer, whatever that means. The demographics listed represent 63% of the Wii U userbase, but the 90% represents the total percentage of Wii U owners who have gone online.
 

TSM

Member
It really shows how Nintendo has completely lost the kids demographic in 20 years. They've always tried to keep it; but kids just moved on.

One of Nintendo's big problems is that they don't have the biggest kids game, Minecraft. It's really weird since that game is everywhere except Nintendo platforms. Even the Vita has Minecraft. There has to be a really interesting story behind this.
 
My wife has a Wii U and I have a PS3/4. It works great. That ratio is... odd.

I don't see how. The Wii U primarily appeals to enthusiasts and kids. Enthusiasts are people that have been playing games for years and years so it's no surprise there's a shortage of women. And kids don't eshop.
 
That male to female ratio is insane. This is exactly why studies stating the female gaming audience is close to 50% really doesn't have much impact on AAA games and consoles. There's a lot of them but mobile has a stranglehold on that market. And here, I would think Nintendo would have the most even split, I imagine Sony and MS are also pretty skewed to one side. But still, that seems way too much, no?
 

Chris FOM

Member
The eshop users part is important. My wife and 4-year-old girl both [sporadically] use the Wii U, but I'm the only one that's ever logged into the eshop. So as far as Nintendo's concerned only a 32-year-old male is registering on that system, even though there are two females using it as well.
 
So 90% of WiiU consoles are online
95% of PS4 consoles are online
I wouldn't be surprised if it's an even higher figure for Xbox One

Yet people still have such an issue with always online?
Yes?

I thought this argument was long dead, but forcing an always online console offers no advantage to the user. None. At. All.

Currently, my girlfriend and I are staying with her parents and their router signal is really weak. My Wii U often drops or can't find a connection. What would I gain from my console phasing in and out of being a brick?
 

catmario

Member
18-24 - 33%
25-34 - 46%
35+ - 14%

There are no lands for Kids and Teens. :p

Switching to hardcore game was good choice. They should have change their mind more quickly.

(edit: Woops. It was eShop statistics. My mistake.)
 
So 90% of WiiU consoles are online
95% of PS4 consoles are online
I wouldn't be surprised if it's an even higher figure for Xbox One

Yet people still have such an issue with always online?
Yes?

I thought this argument was long dead, but forcing an always online console offers no advantage to the user. None. At. All.

Currently, my girlfriend and I are staying with her parents and their router signal is really weak. My Wii U often drops or can't find a connection. What would I gain from my console phasing in and out of being a brick?
 

Lucifon

Junior Member
Because their parents bought them games? I don't understand why people keep bringing this up. In what world do parents not buy their kids games?! It's not a logical reason why younger kids aren't on the eshop. It just isn't

I think it's entirely possible the stats are slightly skewed because of kids putting 18+ as their date of birth. Otherwise I believe they'd be locked out of a lot of content? Regardless if their parents were buying it for them or not. But I do think overall it's quite telling that the mainstream audience Nintendo had last time around has almost completely gone. Those stats point towards fairly 'hardcore' gamers. Which matches what anyone would suspect, many core gamers love that console, especially ones which grew up with Nintendo.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
So 90% of WiiU consoles are online
95% of PS4 consoles are online
I wouldn't be surprised if it's an even higher figure for Xbox One

Yet people still have such an issue with always online?

Being opposed to always online (so much that I wouldn't pay a cent for a game that's always online, even if it was a Yoshi game) doesn't have to do anything with having set up an internet connection for my Wii U (and 360, PSV, 3DS, Wii, PSP, NDS, too). If there is an always online restriction to the games I
(1) can't play games when my internet connection is down
(2) can't play games when there is an attack on the servers of the company selling the consoles
(3) and absolutely the worst thing: I can't play my games anymore when the console builder turns off the internet service for the console for good.

Just to give you some perspective: More than half the games I've played (not for reviews) this year have been more than ten years old. Xbox, GameCube and PS2 can't go online anymore, if they had always online games, I wouldn't be able to play them anymore. Always Online is the plague and I will fight and boycott any console vendor going in that direction.
 

Sayter

Member
Being opposed to always online (so much that I wouldn't pay a cent for a game that's always online, even if it was a Yoshi game) doesn't have to do anything with having set up an internet connection for my Wii U (and 360, PSV, 3DS, Wii, PSP, NDS, too). If there is an always online restriction to the games I
(1) can't play games when my internet connection is down
(2) can't play games when there is an attack on the servers of the company selling the consoles
(3) and absolutely the worst thing: I can't play my games anymore when the console builder turns off the internet service for the console for good.

Just to give you some perspective: More than half the games I've played (not for reviews) this year have been more than ten years old. Xbox, GameCube and PS2 can't go online anymore, if they had always online games, I wouldn't be able to play them anymore. Always Online is the plague and I will fight and boycott any console vendor going in that direction.

Imagine all the DLC that goes away once a server is shut down.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Imagine all the DLC that goes away once a server is shut down.

A big reason why I'm opposed to DLC and download games (won't pay money for any of them), but at least you can still continue to use it as long as your system is running, even when the servers are down.
 

cebri.one

Member
7yr to 17yr only 6% of their userbase. And that pretty much sums up the problems Nintendo is having, their true competition is Apple not Sony neither MS.
 

jimi_dini

Member
Chicks don't dig Nintendo.

...

I bet they wouldn't.

v7POVlh.jpg
 
My Wii U is used by myself (34 year old male) and my fiance (24 year old female) we both have NNIDs but only i ever access the eshop it's also used by our 7 year old son but he doesn't even have an nnid, these demographics don't mean much
 

synce

Member
I bet you the male/female ratio is no different on other consoles. Most girls are too busy playing on their phones.

Edit: Haha that came out kind of sexist. But it has been my experience that girls don't usually own newer consoles, and I always see them playing on phones.
 

jimi_dini

Member
Not really sure how that's relevant chap. Those days are long gone.

Yes, surely most of those females switched to PS3+360 / PS4+Bone including Vita in the last few years, because all those 4 consoles are clearly not designed and marketed to 12-30 year old males. My bet is that most of them went to smartphones or maybe 3DS.

In any case - you said chicks wouldn't dig nintendo. The graph shows otherwise (my personal experience says so as well). Most chicks surely don't dig brown and grey military shooters.
 
What is the Ratio for other digital download services? It is meaningless to go "Nintensux, why you no encourage" when it might just be the case that female gamers don't do digital downloads particularly often.

Wii U needs more Animal Crossing
It has Animal Crossing Plaza. For free I might add...

So Wii U users are mostly 18-33 year old males... probably people who grew up with Nintendo consoles
If you say your are under 18 when making the NNID you might be limited in what eShop games you can buy and what communities you can see (not sure on latter) so why say?

It may become a issue for a subset of the 5% in Europe (reality; <10 person). Bayonetta 2 is PEGI 16 but Bayonetta 1 is PEGI 18. If they buy 2 from the eShop they won't be able to get 1...for 2 years.
 

Bonk

Member
wasnt there a study recently that said women were the primary purchasers of games in families? I'm probably misremembering though.

Regarding physical copies that seems plausible. I just assumed that mostly men set up the consoles for the kids and therefor are linked to their purchases.
 

efyu_lemonardo

May I have a cookie?
If you say your are under 18 when making the NNID you might be limited in what eShop games you can buy and what communities you can see (not sure on latter) so why say?

It may become a issue for a subset of the 5% in Europe (reality; <10 person). Bayonetta 2 is PEGI 16 but Bayonetta 1 is PEGI 18. If they buy 2 from the eShop they won't be able to get 1...for 2 years.
I see your point, but the bottom line is there's no denying Nintendo currently have a big problem reaching a sizeable consumer base and need to figure out a new strategy asap.
 

efyu_lemonardo

May I have a cookie?
I think the new 3DS announcement is proof Nintendo are perfectly aware of their main target demographic and are renewing efforts to appeal to them. They haven't given up on other segments yet, but they want to show adult males that grew up on Nintendo systems they are still valued.

SNES color scheme and Xenoblade portable to me sound like a direct attempt to do just that, and a better battery and CPU are always welcome selling points. In addition they probably also hope all these will serve as a trojan horse to get NFC into more people's hands.
 
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