Nintendo ramps up Wii Fit marketing, shifts industry yet again
Friday, March 21st, 2008 at 12:02pm by Jack
Wii Fit is big in Japan (1.5 million sold in three months) and arguably will be as big if not bigger in the US when it goes live in a month or so (more people, more people who subscribe to new “weight loss” gimmicks, Wii’s existing momentum among people outside the now incorrectly described “core” or “traditional gamer”). But, just in case, Nintendo is allegedly preparing a massive marketing push to ensure the peripheral is seen and experienced by as many people as possible. I’m talking Oprah here people, Oprah.GameDaily recently spoke with gaming guru Michael Pachter about the build up, and he seemed to think it was going to be in the tens of millions. Pachter also saw a shift from Nintendo (once again, I smell a trend!) in how the marketing money would be spent:
Pachter notes that Nintendo’s marketing approach reinforces his theory that hardware sales will shift away from specialty stores like GameStop and towards mass market chains like Best Buy. “…it is unlikely that such a large marketing campaign is intended to disproportionately benefit GameStop,” he said. “Rather, we think that the Nintendo campaign is likely to feature key retail partners such as Target and Best Buy, notorious for attracting so-called ‘couch potatoes.’”
I’d add that with these mid year releases (Brawl, Mario Kart, Wii Fit, WiiWare), Nintendo is also shifting the industry away from the “Christmas sales or bust” behavior that’s had a hold on it since, well, forever. Brawl was the fastest selling NOA game ever, and it released in the typically low key month of March. Wii Fit and Mario Kart will do the same for April and May, with WiiWare being the cherry on top.
March 21st, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I cannot wait for Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit. Mario Kart Wii will just be a time waster and Wii Fit…also a time waster but hopefully helping shape up. “Time waster” to me involves starting play, then wondering where the time went? That is what I love about Nintendo, I get involved in a huge variety of games but I had a great time. I am a gamer.
March 21st, 2008 at 12:40 pm
I as well am severely pumped for everything Nintendo is doing right now. Speaking of GameStop though, there were doing a 20% back on all trade-ins used towards the purchase of Mario Kart Wii. Needless to say I got my 20% as I purchased the game in its entirety last weekend.
Spring has been a great time for Nintendo games. As a note, I still have yet to have the time to finish a majority of the titles I bought last year. This leads me to believe E3 will be huge for Nintendo this year as they have yet to announce anything of real substance for the remainder of 08.
Here’s to hoping they can keep the momentum rolling.
March 21st, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Oprah would CRUSH the little gimmic balance board…..
March 21st, 2008 at 6:33 pm
I was hesitant about Wii Fit and the balance board at first, but now I’m kind of excited about it! I’m still going to wait and see what the word on it is, but it should be an interesting peripheral, no doubt.
As for Mario Kart Wii…I’m not so sure. I have MKDS and I enjoy that enough. Do I really need the Wii version?
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:22 am
To Wii Wii…
That is funny… I don’t know if Oprah would actually dare getting on that scale in front of her audience…
March 25th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Well at least we know it supports 600 pounds (but can only measure up to 300) so it should hold even Dr. Phil’s massive noggin (full of water and junk, not brains mind you).
Anyway, I wonder how the push will be over there. Here in Mexico the campaigns feel incredibly light, especially for supposedly wanting to reach an expanded audience. Seems like if you aren’t in the US, Japan, or europe, games will remain just for the “hardcore” who are already gamers which saddens me.