Late Fall Color Pallet

Nintendo's lack of Maturity

If you're like me, when you think of Nintendo, you think of it as the grandfather of video games. The company that brought us classics like Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong and even "cross-genre" video games like Batman. The company that really took video gaming to unprecedented levels of excitement, portability and introduced the idea that video games where not just a fad but a untapped and viable market. The company that for the last two decades has been struggling to produce the same crowd pleasing products of its early years.  

In 1983, Nintendo introduced the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) to the world and sold an incredible 62 million units. With smash hit game releases the next four years Nintendo was poised as king of the video game market. In 1989 Nintendo raised the bar and found a new niche in video gaming with the Game Boy, mobile gaming. The Game Boy and its "On-the-go" gaming capabilities were such a huge hit that Nintendo sold 118 million units world wide. Following hot on the heels of the Game Boy was the release of Nintendo's new console the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) in 1990. For another 4 years Nintendo would rule the console market. In 1994 the video game market would change forever starting the decline of Nintendo's 12 yr reign of supremacy as the worlds leading video game console seller.

In 1994 Sony burst onto the video game scene with a revolutionary new console, the Play Station. State-of-the-art graphics, new comfortable controller with analog and d-pad controls and the introduction of disc or cd format games spelled an end to Nintendo's fantastic run atop the video game world. Although Nintendo still cornered the 'mobile video game market' and arguably still does to this day, the former console glory that Nintendo held was slipping and continued to slip in the following years.

In the 21st century technology and gaming would take leaps and bounds forward with companies like Sony and Microsoft releasing consoles more powerful and more attractive than their predecessors. Nintendo continued to release Gameboys and new versions to fit with the times but still lacked a console to 'hang with the big boys.' In 2006 Nintendo breathed life back into its console role with the introduction of the Wii. Although this was seen by many as "Nintendo's return to Greatness," many were skeptical. I was among those skeptics and will continue to be as long as Nintendo fails to expand its audience.

While Sony and Microsoft are hard at work advancing their gaming technologies into more than just gaming and making their consoles and games more available to all ages, Nintendo and its youthfully styled Wii and Gameboys continue to target the youngest and oldest generations. Now to Nintendo's credit, children (with their parents' money) are a huge demographic for video games sales. But just as we see child music star after child music star, out-grow their audience or vice versa, Nintendo targets the youngest gamers and continues to lose maturing gamers to Sony or Microsoft.

Whether you think this is noble of Nintendo or not, consider this. Nintendo would like to broaden their demographic, as is shown from their recent attempts to secure mature titles for the Wii. But I would compare this to a playground equipment company producing an "adult playground," complete with stripper poles, nude models to catch you at the bottom of the slide and beer taps hanging from the monkey bars. You can dress it up however you want, but at it's core the playground is still designed for children. In this way Nintendo continues to present its products in a very child-like fashion and sadly will continue to fall short of Sony and Microsoft in attracting mature gamers and their following.