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Nintendo's Disastrous Attempt at Audience Engagement
- amp
- Feb 10, 2022
- 3 min read
After the failure of the Wii U, Nintendo was struggling to keep their own company and their fans. To get back up on their feet in the video game market, they needed a new console with an interesting gimmick much better than the Wii U. A dual-handed console titled the Nintendo Switch, was soon released in 2017 (Fandom 2022). The Nintendo Switch out sold the Wii U ten months into its launch (The Verge 2018). The console sold so well it brought Nintendo back into the video game competition solely because of its marketing. Nintendo has always been known as a “children's company,” due to the lack of mature rated games on their consoles. The Nintendo Switch was marketed as a family console (Fandom 2022). A console that could be played as a family on the television at home, or played solo on the go. Even then, you could still play with others when bringing the console out in public.
Going back to Nintendo's previous success, they looked at the Wii. After failing with the Wii U they reflected on what made the Wii so successful. The Wii clearly had a more interesting gimmick than the Wii U, but the Wii was so successful because it was cheap when compared to a Playstation 3 or Xbox 360, and it was marketed as a family console (Dawn 2021). The Wii also launched with Wii Sports, one of the Wii's best games displaying its motion controls in a very fun and creative way (Dawn 2021). The Wii U was marketed with a not-so interesting gimmick, and it was directed towards children. Also a new intellectual property launched with the Wii U, poorly displaying the Wii U’s tablet gimmick. A lot of parents believed the Wii U was an unnecessarily expensive upgrade to the Wii rather than its own console.
Nintendo took this old marketing tactic from the Wii and just put a modern day polish to it. They advertised the Switch as a console for anyone. We see this in its multiple advertisements. All different ages, genders, cultures; everyone in the advertisements owns a Switch. We also see everyone that owns a Switch takes it everywhere they go, and they play it wherever they want. The Switch’s primary audience is clearly directed to anyone who plays games, whether it’s used as a family console, a portable console, or even both. The Switch also launched with, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The Legend of Zelda is one Nintendo's most popular franchises, so launching a new console with a cool “two-in-one” gimmick, and with a game that has a massive following set the Switch up for success. This in my eyes makes the Switch Secondary audience The Legend of Zelda Fans.
Nintendo purposely advertised their console in a way that would grab anybody who plays video games attention. The video game industry is a competition. You have people who side with companies like Sony, Microsoft and even Nintendo. These people buy the respective companies' consoles. Nintendo wanted to break this “company bias,” and bring in all gamers. The Switch is a two-way console. You can hook it up to your television at home, or you can carry it with you and bring it on the go. It is small, light and portable. The library for the Switch is very diverse too, and this clearly allows a lot of selection for anyone.
While having a very expansive library, when the Switch first released only a few games launched with it. One of them being, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The Legend of Zelda. The Legend of Zelda series has not gotten a new entry in its main-line series for years. This new game was not only a massive new story for The Legend of Zelda fans, but also a massive step in gaming. This game innovated the basic concept of an open world game, into something that is more like a sandbox. You can do whatever you want in this massive world or you could even finish the main story in numerous different ways. The game brought a lot of new ideas to the gaming industry, and The Legend of Zelda series.
Sources
Byford, S. (2018, January 31). The Nintendo Switch has already outsold the Wii U. The Verge.
Dawn, A. (2021, November 20). Why Was the Wii so Successful? GameGrin. https://www.gamegrin.com/articles/why-was-the-wii-so-successful/
Wiki Targeted (Games). (2022, February). Nintendo. https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/Nintendo_Switch
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