Retiring Early

Friday, March 23, 2007

Spending your retirement money: On a gaming console?!

I came across this article this morning and had to share. It's both interesting and bit strange all at the same time. The article is basically claiming that Nintendo has been successful in luring non-gamers (including retirees) into buying their new gaming console called the Wii (pronounced "WEE"). Of course, the key to growth in the gaming world is growing the number of gamers, so this is a great strategy. They did throw a bit of a Hail-Mary pass with their console strategy this time around by not focusing on better graphics or near-real experiences, but it's great to see it paying off for them.

Anyway, back to how this is related to retirement: The article calls out two things that have retirees loving this new game console:
  1. The games are fun and interactive. Since you're required to move your body to play the games, older folks looking to stay active can do just that: stay active while having some fun. That's pretty cool, actually.
  2. It's not only social, but it's also helping to bridge the generation gap between retirees and their grandchildren. Again, that's pretty cool.
It'll be interesting to see if/when they bring out the "brain games" to the Wii. That should be the one-two, knockout punch for keeping retirees coming back to play. Good work Nintendo.

(Photo courtesy of msnbc.com)

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5 Comments:

  • At 3/27/2007 12:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I think it's great! I have a GF who is a total non-gamer, and she told her husband she wanted a WII to help her lose post baby weight! I think it's totally smart that Nintendo is going after the non-PSx, nonXBox crowd. It's a totally ignored market ripe for the taking!

     
  • At 3/28/2007 11:00 AM, Blogger L. Marie Joseph said…

    Ahhh huh? That is the funniest picture.

    One thing I can say, is that this WII does not discriminate. All ages can be involved

     
  • At 3/30/2007 4:52 PM, Blogger fin_indie said…

    Seriously, great move on Nintendo's part. they were left for dead and now they are poised to expand the gaming market beyond what Sony and MS have obviously been focused on winning. Nice end-run.

     
  • At 4/13/2007 10:10 AM, Blogger SavingDiva said…

    Wii is really different, but I still don't want to play. I would much rather play tennis, or go to a bowling alley (and be able to wear the awesome rentable footwear).

    The only video game system that I ever owned was the original Nintendo. Even at 10, I had limited interest in it.

     
  • At 4/21/2007 7:56 AM, Blogger fin_indie said…

    savingdiva: Yeah, you have a point. real activity should trump the virtual kind for exercise every time. Although, bowling alley's tend to be pretty smoky, which makes me want to head outside for activity. (Smoke is not allowed inside in Washington anymore, but when I meet up with the rest of my family in their home state and bowling is the activity, the smoke just overwhelms!)

     

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