Sunday, May 29, 2005
Nintendo DS Marketing Project
I just found this article at IGN and thought it was very intriguing considering I had just finished a Nintendo DS report for my marketing promotions class at CU. I also found this article on GameSpot which mentions the 94% market share of the Nintendo DS but also that Sony cannot produce enough PSPs to meet demand and may have to delay it's European entry... That 94 could be dropping soon Nintendo!
Here is the introduction to the Article I wrote for my marketing promotions class outlining a possible strategy for the DS in the US market. You can contact me directly for the Excel data if you are interested and view a better formatted version of the report here
The images below were created by me as prototypes for a possible Nintendo female gamer promotion. The handheld console has been produced in iridescent pink (to match the success of the i-pod mini) and has been packaged with Nintendogs, a hot game title currently out in Japan and making its way to the USA.
Nintendo's DS (Dual Screen) gaming system is the newest in a line of portable handheld gaming systems offered by Nintendo. Since 1989, when it launched the first Game Boy, Nintendo has dominated the handheld gaming market and focused on a demographic of five to 17 year old males. Over the past 15 years Game Boy has been challenged by Neo Geo (Neo Geo Pocket), Sega (Game Gear and Nomad), and more recently Nokia (N-Gage). None of these offerings have been successful at stealing market share from Nintendo who has continued to improve its offerings with newer more powerful systems to challenge competitors as well as backwards compatibility for it's previously released titles. On March 24th 2005 Sony introduced the PSP (PlayStation Portable) gaming device aimed at the growing demographic of 18 to 34 year old gamers. The PSP is still relatively new as of this report but already there has been a shift in handheld gaming as over 500,000 PSP units were sold within the first two days of the US launch.
Sony has been incredibly successful working with third party software designers in gaining support for its previous gaming platforms (the PlayStation and PlayStation 2) which has put pressure on Nintendo and decreased their market share for the Game Cube system. When Sony entered the console gaming market with its PlayStation 2 in the United States on October 26, 2000 the pressure was so intense between Nintendo, Sega and Sony that Sega was forced to exit the market. Just as Sony was able to enter the console gaming market in the early 2000's and rise to the top, dominating Nintendo and forcing Sega out, the PSP is currently threatening Nintendo in the handheld gaming market. So this prompts our research question, how will Nintendo be able to continue to increase their market share in such a competitive market place?
Faced with huge competition from the PSP in the 18 to 34 year old demographic, primary and secondary data indicates that Nintendo should reinforce itself as the primary offering for young adults age 5 to 17. Nintendo will continue to expand into the entertainment industry outside of gaming to increase its intellectual property with the PoKeMoN franchise and strong ties to Nickelodeon and Disney. This gives Nintendo leverage and a competitive advantage in younger demographic. New products such as GameBoy ADVANCE video have expanded the feature set of the original GameBoy and Nintendo needs to communicate this competitive advantage to its consumers.
Since Nintendo has not traditionally contracted with third party software developers as strongly as Sony, Nintendo has a distinct opportunity to market itself as the original first and only in the market. Furthermore, Nintendo has avoided violence in it's games (the majority of which are rated E for Everyone) which has pleased parents and maintained the image of being a kid-friendly brand. With Nintendo's kid friendly background, the company has a unique opportunity to penetrate a growing market of female gamers age 5 to 17 with offerings such as PoKeMoN and the soon to be released Nintendogs. Communicating these advantages and positioning itself as a kid friendly brand using scuba style communications will increase market share for Nintendo and allow the company to dominate in an increasingly competitive market. ...read the full story here: http://www.abstractcore.com/court/files/Nintendo%20DS.pdf
posted by Court @ 4:50 PM
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