Consoles are dying. Nintendo is doomed.
Nintendo has a big problem on its hands. The company can’t seem to keep Animal Crossing: New Leaf on store shelves. The game has been out for only a couple months now, but it’s already sold upwards of two million copies and the platform holder is struggling to keep up with demand. “I’ve never seen anything sell like this before,” Nintendo President Satoru Iwata confessed to Nikkei while swimming laps in his private vault.
What’s more is that the game appears to be doing quite while with a rather unusual demographic. According to data obtained via Club Nintendo, Animal Crossing is actually quite popular with the ladies, particularly women between the ages of 19 and 24. And despite women reportedly only making up 31% of the “core” 3DS owning audience, more than 56% of New Leaf players are female.
“People often debate whether smartphones will eliminate the need of consoles for gaming,” bellowed the Nintendo President from atop his mountain of golden riches. “They say casual female gamers don’t need a console, but after seeing these figures, we’d really like to reconsider that and the true value of console gaming.” Ha! Take that, Angry Birds.
任天堂・岩田社長が語る“本当の”ソーシャルゲーム「3DS」「Wii U」の逆襲(前編) [Nikkei via Siliconera]