Topic: Is Nintendo making a shift in its target demographics?

I was really suprised by the VGA's last night......it had some faults, such as being a bit trailer heavy vice actual award presentations, but the show itself was largely entertaining without being pandering or degrading to people who enjoy games (for the most part).

I was taken back and pleasantly suprised by just how much Nintendo was willing to show and cooperate. From Cranky Kong and that's it for 2013 to new info about Mario Maker, S.T.E.A.M., Zelda U, and Star Fox U, the contrast was pretty obvious. It shows the quality of Nintendo that despite the fact that every third party reveal during the show skipped the Wii U, Nintendo was still able to hold their own.....Reggie was largely likeable as well.

For sure Nintendo is trying to appeal to a more gamer centric demographic, I don't think you would have seen this during the Wii years, or even a year or two ago.

I do think Nintendo will continue to focus on families, it's an historic strong suit for them......but it's nice to see that they are branching out once again.

No. They are still focusing on families and younger gamers. Nintendo wants to appeal to a wide audience

I think the difference now compared to one year ago is that they have games for Wii U to talk about, to such extent that they can leave out games that they don't think appeal to the specific audience. They can sit and "casually" discuss Zelda and Starfox, and confidently say that both games will arrive in 2015. They can leave out stuff like Mario Party 10, Mario vs. Donkey Kong U, Yoshi's Wooly World etc etc. Reggie can say "I can't tell you everything about what we're releasing in 2015" and that statement becomes believable.

There will be times where Nintendo will only talk about Mario Party 10 etc, but now they aren't forced to do it to the wrong audience.

Nope, Nintendo's development teams targets everyone of all ages... Nintendo's marketing department targets little kids.

Nintendo seems to be doubling down on this "Same-Generation Hypothesis" idea. They seem to be gunning for that 18-25 demo like their life depended on it.

_{It kinda does.}

Nintendo has and always will focus on people that want to play their games. And before you say something about the Wii, the Wii was made for people that wanted to play games but felt the standard gaming controller was a barrier. The Wiimote lowered that barrier allowing people, who were interested but didn't have the skill to play games.

I just think that if anything, Nintendo is just making themselves more relevant.

Now maybe they can hopefully get all of those freaking kids off of their dang tablets.

And they did a wonderful job last night

Well they can't announce everything through Nintendo directs. Those are great for fans but it mostly just fans that watch those videos. If they wanna draw in a bigger audience they need to be open to these sorts of shows (and better advertisements but we know that's not happening anytime soon).

Well, considering Starfox and Zelda U are a thing, and "core" fans probably already knew about those games, not really. The Wii U title games(Sports Club, Fit U, Party U) also exist, so as far as Nintendo's demographic goes, they've covered a lot of I think they have always been successful with on their past platforms. The other games like Pushmo World, Captain Toad, and Project S.T.E.A.M. are just filling gaps between all the other big games, IMO.

Possibly. They might have realised that the Wii era 'casual' audience is gone and isn't coming back, so they had to start marketing to 'core' gamers.

Especially given how badly the Wii U was getting shafted third party wise. They've got to stop those Nintendo fans and core gamers going to the PS4 and Xbox One somehow...

Why? Quite a few play on multiple platforms.

I sure hope Zelda U gets a T rating like Twilight Princess, that way they'll actually be able to make a realistic world, great combat animations, and to have blood effects. I hate gore, but subtle blood particle effects make the action more impactful. That and I really want the story to have all the space it needs to tell a darker story. Skyward Sword was so formulaic narratively that Girahim felt like a bad saturday morning cartoon villain. That and all the designs were gaudy, goofy, and didn't form a cohesive world. Everything was just spray painted 'approved for all audiences', ugh.

When I say I want it to be T-rated I mean I want Nintendo to make the game without trying to make it overly sunny. For example rating isn't a problem in Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask because they were perfectly serious narratively and with animations. They would probably get T ratings today, so I think in order to make a convincing narrative about violent struggle (what all Zelda games are about, as evidenced by the sword) Nintendo would need to not restrain themselves in fear of more restrictive ratings.

No, it was a very different type of presentation too.

I'd guess maybe 5% of all people currently playing video games on a console own more than one 8th gen system.

The only thing that's changed is that it's now a focus on core gamers, with the occasional casual bone like Wii Party U, where as with Wii many people feel it was the opposite - a focus on casual gamers with the occasional bone to the core. E3 2015 should be interesting since they won't have Smash to gain momentum off of, but they will have Zelda, Star Fox, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and most likely Devil's Third. Imagine if they announce Metroid and a "proper" 3D Mario (Galaxy 3 or a Galaxy successor). Would be the best E3 ever.

What does the 8th gen systems statistics has to do with anything? Doesn't customers buy systems they feel have value?

Ocarina of Time 3D was rated E10+. Same as Skyward Sword.

I don't think Nintendo needs to shift its target demographic as much as remind the "lost demographic" that Nintendo is still relevant. I didn't watch the awards show (I don't watch a lot of TV, and I don't care for award shows) but to me this was just a way to remind people they still exist. Not all people have forgotten about Nintendo, but quite a few have, or have just never really been into Nintendo at all. Things like these remind those that have strayed and also introduce those who may not know about the wonders of Nintendo.

Nintendo doesn't need to focus on anything different: the games speak for themselves. They just need to remind people the games are out there.

That's just my point, Ocarina of Time got a flat E rating on the N64, but it was bumped up to an E10+ with the 3DS release, but not too much because that legacy score was already out there. My point is Skyward Sword felt intentionally toned down in parts to secure an E rating of some description and if Ocarina of Time came out today for the first time it would get a T rating for the sound effects, the blood effects, generally everything about redeads, and the other disturbing enemy designs.

I don't think ratings matter much, but self-censorship and holding back when crafting games as a result of those ratings do.