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[Phades]

That market apparently doesn't exist anymore on consoles. That is partly what the original quoted material is highlighting, which is just weird that such a massive pool of the group just up and vanishes overnight.

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.

Why wouldn't the purchaser of the physical product be the one to set it up for controls and primary use?

 

[PdotMichael]

Really? I guess children´s income allow them to buy eshop cards.

Children's income is higher than ever in the first world.

 

[Kilrogg]

That market apparently doesn't exist anymore on consoles. That is partly what the original quoted material is highlighting, which is just weird that such a massive pool of the group just up and vanishes overnight.

That market is not here any more because Nintendo stopped seriously pursuing it after NSMB Wii, and the competition's attempts at courting anyone other than hardcore gamers have been lukewarm at best.

 

[Phades]

What I meant to get at, but didn't articulate, is that the reaction from that group would be more similar to folks who were shunned or shut out deliberately with the next product reveal, which just didn't happen.

Was it marketed improperly? Perhaps. But with the whole motion gaming thing, Microsoft was attempting to court that audience, so it wasn't entirely abandonded (software releases notwithstanding).

 

[Mass Effect]

These demographics aren't really all that surprising. I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of those buying (or have) Wii U's are hardcore Nintendo fans and people looking to pick up a secondary system for their PS4/PC/Xbox.

Really? I guess children´s income allow them to buy eshop cards.

You serious? Ever heard of allowances? Plus, I don't know about you, but I was able to make money as a kid (cutting grass and the like).

 

[Kilrogg]

What I meant to get at, but didn't articulate, is that the reaction from that group would be more similar to folks who were shunned or shut out deliberately with the next product reveal, which just didn't happen.

Was it marketed improperly? Perhaps. But with the whole motion gaming thing, Microsoft was attempting to court that audience, so it wasn't entirely abandonded (software releases notwithstanding).

Right, I don't disagree (sorry if I came off aggressive). I'd argue that it wasn't courted enough, and not well. If you want to attract people, any people, you gotta give them more than one or two games for them every once in a while. Failing that, you at least need to make damn sure the few games you make for it are of stellar quality. Which I haven't seen Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft do over the past few years.

 

[Phades]

With the Xbox1, I'd argue that Microsoft was trying to position themselves in that space and failed spectacularly.

In the instance of WiiU, I think that is partially a marketing problem along side a trending issue that began prior to its release.

The was it "good enough" is fairly self evident at this point, even though the intent was there.

 

[Natureboy99]

That's... a surprising gender ratio. Particularly for Nintendo.

Seems about right to me. Everyone I know who has a WiiU (6 people I think) is a man in his 30's. 3Ds same story. Kids are all playing Minecraft on their phones.

 

[Chastten]

The M/F ratio is a little surprising. Then again, all women I know that have a Wii U/3DS, bought those for Pokémon/Smash/Kart/Mario/Animal Crossing/Fire Emblem and hardly even know the eShop is a thing.

 

[Muzy72]

The M:F ratio probably comes from people who do the eShop reviews. I don't think most people do those reviews.

 

[AndrewDean84xX]

Nintendo is "kiddie" confirmed?

93% of users are over the age of 18

Nice.

 

[Stereogatari]

That market apparently doesn't exist anymore on consoles. That is partly what the original quoted material is highlighting, which is just weird that such a massive pool of the group just up and vanishes overnight.

I firmly believe that better marketing for the WiiU may have retained some of that demographic. WiiU is a vague name, when it was first announced even many of us core types didn't clearly understand it was a full successor. Wii 2 would have been the ticket.

 

[Schreckstoff]

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?

Now we're back at the female avatar conundrum

 

[FLAguy954]

Interesting metrics. Was pretty sure that the age distribution was more concentrated on a younger audience.

This is a very old misconception. Hell, even the 3DS has a higher ratio of 18 and older gamers.

 

[ratcliffja]

Seems about right to me. Everyone I know who has a WiiU (6 people I think) is a man in his 30's. 3Ds same story. Kids are all playing Minecraft on their phones.

Now that's a weird bump.

 

[Buddha Beam]

7% seems like it can't be right. Just going off the number of female avatars in Miiverse, I would think it's higher than 7%.

 

[RM8]

7% seems like it can't be right. Just going off the number of female avatars in Miiverse, I would think it's higher than 7%.

Miiverse is not sure to reflect the entire WiiU userbase. I'd say, for instance, Miiverse is dominated by the younger WiiU users.

 

[Mikel1015]

What's with all these bumps lately? Are people just bored and started looking at old threads?

 

[jimi_dini]

This is a very old misconception. Hell, even the 3DS has a higher ratio of 18 and older gamers.

Right.

 

[Caronte]

That gender ratio is surprising.

 

[BeatResetsTheWorld]

Nintendo needs to release a Wii U Animal Crossing STAT. If the demos are that skewed they're missing out on a potentially large female audience

Younger audiences don´t have credit cards, so why would they visit the eshop?

The same way any other young person visits the eShop? And if they don't have credit cards then where is the 0-17 group coming from? Did their parents get their CCs?

Why is it that people keep coming up with these ridiculous qualifiers and exceptions and generally nonsense arguments anytime it's shown with DATA (as in, not anecdotes or assumptions) that the Nintendo fanbase isn't as young as assumed?

"Oh, they're only there cuz of nostalgia...". The PS1 launched almost 20 fucking years ago. Why is it that only Nintendo's fanbase is the result of nostalgia?

 

[TheSlySoul]

It really doesn't surprise me that most Wii U owners are older males clinging onto nostalgia.

Spoiler

I am one of them.

Most youth play the other consoles.

"Oh, they're only there cuz of nostalgia...". The PS1 launched almost 20 fucking years ago. Why is it that only Nintendo's fanbase is the result of nostalgia?

If Crash, Spyro, and Ape Escape games were coming out on PS4/PS Vita I would agree, but they are not.

 

[Stereogatari]

If Crash, Spyro, and Ape Escape games were coming out on PS4/PS Vita I would agree, but they are not.

I think it's less about that, and more that the PS4 demographic has more to it than people who were around for the PS1. Whereas the bulk of WiiU are people who have been around for previous consoles.

 

[RM8]

If Crash, Spyro, and Ape Escape games were coming out on PS4/PS Vita I would agree, but they are not.

Bad comparison. The actual big sellers on PS1 / PS2 are still here (Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Tekken, Gran Turismo, GTA, MGS). And being fair, they're never accused of being popular because of nostalgia. It's true that is a lazy argument mostly thrown at Nintendo IMO. I got into gaming because of Street Fighter, and I don't recall many instances of it being labeled as a "nostalgia series" despite being pretty ancient and true to its roots.

 

[Stereogatari]

Bad comparison. The actual big sellers on PS1 / PS2 are still here (Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Tekken, Gran Turismo, GTA, MGS). And being fair, they're never accused of being popular because of nostalgia. It's true that is a lazy argument mostly thrown at Nintendo IMO. I got into gaming because of Street Fighter, and I don't recall many instances of it being labeled as a "nostalgia series" despite being pretty ancient and true to its roots.

Good reply, can't argue with that.

Also a lot of us PS4 gamers are here for nostalgia even if we're playing plenty of new games. Look at my avatar for example. The games I am most looking forward to are MGSV and FFXV. Sure I'm playing other stuff too, but I doubt I'd have a PS4 if those two titles weren't in the pipeline.

 

[Pancakes R Us]

25-34 is the biggest eShop audience...wow. You'd think Nintendo would try to cater to this audience a little more, especially with things line online play (voice chat in game) and stuff like not completely removing the useful feature off FlipNote studio. I know they want to protect the younger audience, but there should be some kind of basic checks to allow adults to get a better experience.

Firstly though, I'd like them to fix up the eShop interface. I find it such a bloody annoyance to browse, especially the 3DS one. Please hire an external company to do this shit.

 

[BeatResetsTheWorld]

Firstly though, I'd like them to fix up the eShop interface. I find it such a bloody annoyance to browse, especially the 3DS one. Please hire an external company to do this shit.

Definitely the 3DS', but there's nothing wrong with the Wii U eshop. In fact, I like it the best of the 3 consoles. What problems do you have with it?

 

[jimi_dini]

It really doesn't surprise me that most Wii U owners are older males clinging onto nostalgia.

Spoiler

I am one of them.

Most youth play the other consoles.

Nah, we old fucks just still care about quality.

 

[jblank83]

That market is not here any more because Nintendo stopped seriously pursuing it after NSMB Wii, and the competition's attempts at courting anyone other than hardcore gamers have been lukewarm at best.

They tried. They made a system that features an inoffensive, family friendly "tablet" type of controller, whose main sell is that it can be used to play games while boyfriends/girlfriends/brothers/sisters/moms/dads are watching television. They backed it with a ton of gender inclusive, family friendly advertising, supported by a bunch of DS/Wii casual style games. All of this happened before, during, and after launch.

It failed to catch on. No one cared, because they were too busy with their smartphones and iPads, with Flappy Bird, Minecraft, and Candy Crush Saga.

The casual market has moved on from core gaming systems.

 

[Stereogatari]

Nah, we old fucks just still care about quality.

I hear that. I'm sitting here with a barely played Far Cry 4, Resident Evil HD just released, Order 1886 and Bloodborne coming soon, yet I've been obsessively thinking about getting a WiiU for the last few weeks.

They tried. They made a system that features an inoffensive, family friendly "tablet" type of controller, whose main sell is that it can be used to play games while boyfriends/girlfriends/brothers/sisters/moms/dads are watching television. They backed it with a ton of gender inclusive, family friendly advertising, supported by a bunch of DS/Wii casual style games. All of this happened before, during, and after launch.

It failed to catch on. No one cared, because they were too busy with their smartphones and iPads, with Flappy Bird, Minecraft, and Candy Crush Saga.

The casual market has moved on from core gaming systems.

They didn't have a true Wii Sports equivalent to go with it. Wii Sports, specifically tennis, is what sold the Wii.

 

[TheSlySoul]

Nah, we old fucks just still care about quality.

Guilty Gear was pretty rad. Waiting for Persona and Disgaea.
I do agree though that most of the top 10 selling games are meh.

 

[MaGnUmKiLLa]

I'm surprised to hear that about the gender numbers. I guess it's not quite as 50/50 as we thought.

 

[jblank83]

They didn't have a true Wii Sports equivalent to go with it. Wii Sports, specifically tennis, is what sold the Wii.

They still tried, with Nintendo Land, TVii, and other casual applications. Then they also tried with Wii Sports Club, Wii Party U, and Wii Fit U.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dbGJieRaH0

This is a commercial trying to reach all segments of the market: core, casual, family. It's their launch commercial (insert complaints for music here).

Since then their advertising has shifted to more core focused, as has their product development focus, with the "Wii" line being almost completely dropped.

 

[Starwolf_UK]

Seems about right to me. Everyone I know who has a WiiU (6 people I think) is a man in his 30's. 3Ds same story. Kids are all playing Minecraft on their phones.

Behold, the rise of the necroposter. No seriously? Why would you bump a 5 month old thread of a shoddy survey/sampling with your own survey of a sample size of 6 (which probably actually a measurable percentage of Wii U owners per average lopsided wedge of US state). As fascinating as it is I don't think it is particularly important.

 

[Stereogatari]

And? They still tried, with Nintendo Land, TVii, and other casual applications. Then they also tried with Wii Sports Club, Wii Party U, and Wii Fit U.

Sure they tried, but they just didn't make anything truly appealing. Something that would make people obsessed about the WiiPad the same way they were with the WiiMote.

 

[jblank83]

Sure they tried, but they just didn't make anything truly appealing. Something that would make people obsessed about the WiiPad the same way they were with the WiiMote.

The question is whether they tried, not whether they succeeded. They obviously didn't succeed.

The further assertion is that they may not have been able to succeed, period, as the casual market has firmly embraced smartphones and tablets as their hardware of choice.

If a gaming company is serious about grabbing casual dollars, they will have to do something drastic like "release smartphone games" (as investors and board posters keep pestering Nintendo to do), release their own full on tablet (will not happen, at least not by Nintendo, massive money sink and failure awaits), or pull off a Wii style coup with some funky new technology (only thing promising is VR, but too many players are already in the field).

 

[Mirk]

I dont understand why everyone thinks the female ratio is low. My wife always uses my mii for the eshop since the payment is saved. Same with the kid. I would think this is common. They never chose their mii at start up.

 

[Micken]

Sure they tried, but they just didn't make anything truly appealing. Something that would make people obsessed about the WiiPad the same way they were with the WiiMote.

Man, they succeeded with me. I was obsessed with the gamepad the moment I saw it. The way it opened up a new window into the game...

But on-topic... I'm 16 and I use my own Mii and NNID for the eShop, so I think the 5% measurement is fairly accurate. I'm pretty surprised at the gender ratio though... These stats at least confirm that the majority of primary users of the Wii U are older males.

 

[yurinka]

Not the first time I see demographics like that. But I didn't expect it to be like that on WiiU.

 

[2SeeKU]

That can't be right. I would have expected a much lower gender split, easily the lowest of all the consoles available today.

 

[KingJ2002]

Demo looks similar to many of the other consoles.

There goes the whole "kiddie" thing :/

what's more surprising is nintendo stance on online enabled content... it's how people are buying the console and using it on a daily basis... it's clear they need to refocus their efforts on their online infrastructure.

That market apparently doesn't exist anymore on consoles. That is partly what the original quoted material is highlighting, which is just weird that such a massive pool of the group just up and vanishes overnight.

they're probably still using the Wii.

 

[Haunted]

93% males in their 20s and 30s?

WiiU is the hardcore gamer system confirmed.


Nintendo must be pretty horrified at those numbers tbh. They seem to have no idea how to cater to that group past their own traditional franchises.

That can't be right. I would have expected a much lower gender split, easily the lowest of all the consoles available today.

The sad part is it probably still is.

 

[Piers]

Exactly what I expected.
Console of the Man Children.

 

[Stereogatari]

Man, they succeeded with me. I was obsessed with the gamepad the moment I saw it. The way it opened up a new window into the game...

But on-topic... I'm 16 and I use my own Mii and NNID for the eShop, so I think the 5% measurement is fairly accurate. I'm pretty surprised at the gender ratio though... These stats at least confirm that the majority of primary users of the Wii U are older males.

Wow I was your age when the Wii was new. Thanks for the sobering thought.

Exactly what I expected.
Console of the Man Children.

Haha. And PS4/XBone are the consoles of the Child Men.

 

[Natureboy99]

Behold, the rise of the necroposter. No seriously? Why would you bump a 5 month old thread of a shoddy survey/sampling with your own survey of a sample size of 6 (which probably actually a measurable percentage of Wii U owners per average lopsided wedge of US state). As fascinating as it is I don't think it is particularly important.

Sorry, I was looking for some data from this thread and thought it didn't get the discussion it deserved due to something else perhaps taking attention so added to the discussion. I find it very interesting data, because it's right in line with all the gamers I know with Nintendo products.

 

[GRaider81]

I dont understand why everyone thinks the female ratio is low. My wife always uses my mii for the eshop since the payment is saved. Same with the kid. I would think this is common. They never chose their mii at start up.

This is true of my household too. I bought the wii U and my 5 year old daughter created the mii.

My wife, daughter and I all use the wii U under the 1 mii

 

[Jac_Solar]

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?

It doesn't have anything to do with peoples internet connections. People have a problem with always online because it means that access to the game itself completely depends on an external server that the publisher controls.

Just an online registration requirement can be a problem -- Mercenaries 2 was completely unplayable (Couldn't play the game offline or online.) for several years for many people because an "Agreement" form froze the game. I think there was a way around it for awhile -- people could download a demo of another game (Or the Mercenaries 2 demo.) that used the same form, and agree to the form there, but I'm not sure.

 

[Haunted]

Wow I was your age when the Wii was new. Thanks for the sobering thought.

I was his age when the Dreamcast came out.

I'm sure we have GAFers that were 16 when the NES hit.

It's all relative, friend.

 

[jimi_dini]

It doesn't have anything to do with peoples internet connections. People have a problem with always online because it means that access to the game itself completely depends on an external server that the publisher controls.

this right here.

optional online capabilities are fine. required online is not. I want to play my physical games even when the company behind it has bit the dust.

 

[HolyCheck]

It doesn't have anything to do with peoples internet connections. People have a problem with always online because it means that access to the game itself completely depends on an external server that the publisher controls.

Just an online registration requirement can be a problem -- Mercenaries 2 was completely unplayable (Couldn't play the game offline or online.) for several years for many people because an "Agreement" form froze the game. I think there was a way around it for awhile -- people could download a demo of another game (Or the Mercenaries 2 demo.) that used the same form, and agree to the form there, but I'm not sure.

Not to mention we don't all live in America, some of us don't have consistantly stable internet.