The Nintendo Wii wants YOU!!! — if you are overweight, a mom, a dad, older, or worried about your fading mental skills.
In other words, if you are anyone but the traditional video gamer.
Welcome to the world of Wii Fit, an $89 physical fitness game and pressure sensitive controller for use with the Wii game system, to be introduced in the US on May 19. A video game it is, Grand Theft Auto it isn’t. The game includes a number of activities for adults including aerobics, yoga, muscle stretches, and balance games.
Already Wal-Mart is pitching the system as a perfect Mother’s Day Gift.
Nintendo Creates a Market
And it’s a brilliant strategy by Nintendo, says innovation expert Scott D. Anthony, on his Harvard Business blog. Instead of targeting hard core gamers with Resident Evil 37 or Halo 16, Nintendo is going after “nonconsumers” — folks who have never been interested in video game products before. Says he:
There is an important lesson from Nintendo’s successes. When seeking opportunities for innovation, don’t just ask, “How can we make it better for our current customers?” ask “How can we expand consumption by reaching customers who we can’t adequately serve today?”
Targeting this market for over a year-and-a-half with other Wii games, Nintendo has a huge headstart over comeptitors Microsoft and Sony, who so far are showing no signs of swimming downmarket to meet the needs of nonconsumers.
Good strategy by Nintendo or a waste of money. Is there a sizable untapped market out there in the video game space?
