...as Nintendo Koppai. Based in Kyoto, Japan, the business produced and marketed a playing card game called Hanafuda. In 1956, Hiroshi Yamauchi visited the US, and this is when he realized the limitations of the card business and hence moved on to different arenas of the gaming world. In 1963, Yamauchi renamed Nintendo Playing Card Company Limited to Nintendo Company, Limited. During 1963 and 1968, Nintendo set up a taxi company, a "love hotel" chain, a TV network, a food company and several other things. All these attempts at expanding and diversifying the business failed, except toy making, where they had relatively prior experience with from selling playing cards. In enormous debt, Nintendo was trying to withstand the Japanese toy industry; it was still small at this point. Due to the short product life cycle of toys, innovation and constantly new product development was vital. This was the beginning of a major new era for Nintendo. In 1970, Hiroshi Yamauchi discovered the hidden talents of Gunpei Yoki, a maintanace engineer at the factory, who built what was later called The Ultra Hand which soon turned into a huge success, selling approximately 1.2 million units. Yokoi was soon moved from maintenance to product development. Nintendo’s first step into the video games industry was in 1975. At the time, home video game consoles were very rare, even the seminal Atari Pong console had not yet been produced. The early 1980s Nintendo created some of its most famous and infamous...
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...[MARKETING FUNDAMENTAL: THE SUCCESS OF THE NINTENDO] | | Summary Introduction: 3 I. General presentation: Nintendo 3 II. Porter´s model: 4 I. The Substitution Products : 4 II. The competition 5 Sony: 5 Nintendo: 5 Microsoft: 5 III. The Positioning: 6 The similarity matrix: 6 Perceptual map of Nintendo DS: 6 IV. Segmentation: The reasons of success 8 Swott : 8 Operational Segmentation 9 Why marketing communication campaign was a success? teddy 10 V. CONCLUSION: Recommendations for Sony and PSP 10 Introduction: A portable console is a video game console designed for ease of transportation. It differs from the old « classic » console in its compact design, bundling the screen, control buttons and the speakers. During the 1970s and 1980s, several companies such as Coleco and Milton Bradley offered a combination of portable and non-portable (requiring a support to be raised) electronic games. The original portable models were limited to a single game built into the machine itself and thus not meeting the multiple gaming capabilities of current portable machines. Milton Bradley Microvision introduced in 1979 is considered as the first real portable console with exchangeable video game cartridges. The Nintendo Company has dominated the handheld market since the release of its Game Boy in 1989. Nintendo is often seen as the company that made this console, popular. Unlike the PC market, the console manufacturers are not as numerous...
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...Nintendo Wii, Xbox, and Sony’s Playstation 3 are the top three video game consoles in the U.S. market. In order to become more competitive, and gain a larger share within the video game console market, Sony must make some changes within their marketing mix. In an industry with a value of over $450M and $670M, the U.S. video game console and video game software markets, respectively, are rapidly growing and highly profitable markets. The largest segment of the market (over 56%) for video game consoles are men ages 18-34. These young men are purchasing action/adventure games (39% of the video game market) and sports games (36% of the video game market). In order for Sony to capture a larger share of the video console market through their Playstation 3, Sony should adjust their marketing strategy to market towards men 18-34 and use the sports video game market to assist their marketing for the console. Current marketing techniques are designed to increase anticipation, video clips/trailers for the video games, and the utilization of humor and dramatization. Sony can use current techniques to their advantage by focusing their efforts towards men aged 18-34. Differentiating the Playstation 3 against Wii and Xbox, Sony can gain more appeal for the targeted demographic. One of the biggest interests and of young men aged 18-34 is women. Using women and perceived sexuality, Playstation 3 can create differentiation within the market to generate a greater appeal within the targeted...
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...The proceeding marketing research will analyze and describe in debt the XBOX 721X video gaming and system. The marketing team will be conducting its research and assessment on Microsoft Global Corporation and will be focusing on one of its most popular products, the XBOX and its arrival of the XBOX 721X. The Microsoft XBOX721X will be the next greatest game system upgrade to arrive on the market in 2015. It will allow everyone the opportunity to enjoy Microsoft’s XBOX in new dimensions. The team has evaluated many concepts and ideas in the creation of this product. The product will give those that felt video games were only for those that play games a chance to experience gaming, listening to music, and watching television in high quality, high definition viewing. The original XBOX was released in 2001 and was marketed as one of the top gaming systems at that time. As technology developed, so did the XBOX. The XBOX360 was introduced in the mid 2000’s. A new century calls for new things, in 2015, the Microsoft Corporation will introduce the new XBOX721X. Microsoft Corporation Microsoft started as a small project in 1975. Elite members of the project that later became one of the most successful companies in the world were: Steve Wood, Bill Gates, Bob Greenberg, Gordon Letwin, Paul Allen, Marc McDonald, Jim Lane, and Andrea Lewis. Microsoft took advantage of a software need that was created in those years and computer manufacturers also contributed to the success of Microsoft...
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...Segments Demographics Through the technological advancements and the progression of the video game console industry, the demographics of the target segment for this industry has changed in many different factors. First, a frequent misconception of the customer base of this industry is the age group of the video gamers. Many believe that youth dominate the video game console industry but studies have proven otherwise. Researchers surveying the demographics in the 2012 USA market, the average ‘gamer’ is 30 years old down from 37 years old in 2011. As a matter of fact, the results presented only 32% of gamers to be under the age of 18, a declining trend initiating from 2005. This trend further opposes the conception of the core of video gamers are youth. As of January 2012, 56% of all households in the US own a console and 17% owning 2 video game consoles. This implies that the customers in the industry are increasing loyalty on the brand rather than seeking to turnover to another console. These statistics and research illustrate that the age of consumers in this industry varies than the common perception. Changes in these trends must be analyzed carefully and acted upon to increase market share. Women, families, grandparents, have all shown increases in the participation of video games. Another common misconception is the gender base of consumers using video game consoles being dominated by males. 2012 data conveys that the gamer gender demographics are broken down...
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...Five Forces Analysis of the Video Game Industry The video game industry is the economic sector involved with the development, marketing and sale of video and computer games. It includes video game consoles, game software, handheld devices, mobile games and online games. The video gaming industry has been growing exponentially in recent years with Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo competing for the higher profits in the market. This essay will analyze each of the five forces acting on the industry: threat of new entrants, threat of substitute products or services, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, and the competitive rivalry among existing firms. Then it will be determined if the video game industry is still an attractive industry for Sony. The video game industry has high entry barriers because of its high research and development costs, and capital investment needed to start a business in the console industry. The cost required to develop and manufacture a product that could be a decent competitor in this market is too great for a non-established company in this industry. The technology that is needed to be successful is too advanced for new competitors to achieve. For this reason, the threat to Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo of new entrants, was not very high in 2008. Additionally, Sony’s PlayStation, Microsoft’s Xbox, and Nintendo’s gaming systems were very well established names in the industry. The prestige of these products was so strong that it...
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...Marketing Plan July 2, 2012 MKT 421 Ronald Bonlender Marketing Plan Apple Inc. became incorporated in 1977 and has since generated many innovations giving Apple Inc. a valuable reputation as well as immense revenue. Apple Inc. designs, manufactures and markets a variety of products sold nationwide through retail stores, online sites, and direct sale. Apple Inc. is recognized for product differentiation and will continue to do so with the introduction of Apple Inc.’s I-Magine (video game console). In creating a marketing plan, Apple Inc. intends to consider various factors, such as geographic availability, product mix, and transmission of product description. In addition, phase I of Apple Inc.’s marketing plan will consider an effective SWOT analysis to determine strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, or trends to creating this latest product. Furthermore, marketing research and analyzing consumer factors, such as demographics, psychographics, behaviors, and geographic considerations will ensure I-Magine’s success. The function in Phase I of Team B’s marketing plan is to consider industrial analysis in relation to competition and differentiation from other competitors in the video gaming industry. To pursue this strategy in Phase II, Team B undertook data-based synopsis from different online resources to gather information on the organizational strategy of Apple Inc. Findings from research information pertaining to the video game industry’s products and services...
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...Retailing Strategy 3 Dual Distribution and Gamestop’s Marketing Efforts 4 Time, Place, Possession, and Form Utility 4 Game Vending Machines on College Campuses 5 Introduction Gamestop was founded in 1996 as a specialty retailer of new and used video game hardware and software. They have 6,600 stores in 17 countries and stock popular video game consoles and accessories from Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, plus thousands of games. They have a highly aggressive retail strategy with goals to open 400 new stores every year. With the current marketing strategy and business plan, Gamestop rings up $9 billion in annual sales. They sell to customers in traditional brick and mortar buildings, as well as, online sales.( Pride, W. M., & Ferrell, O. C. (2014). Marketing. Retailing, Direct Marketing, and Wholesaling, 16, 553.) Role of Physical Distribution in Retailing Strategy Physical distribution is the set of activities concerned with efficient movement of finished goods from the end of the production operation to the consumer. Physical distribution takes place within numerous wholesaling and retailing distribution channels, and includes such important decision areas as customer service, inventory control, materials handling, protective packaging, order procession, transportation, warehouse site selection, and warehousing. Physical distribution is part of a larger process called "distribution," which includes wholesale and retail marketing, as well the physical movement of products.( http://www...
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...*CASE STUDY 11* Competition in Video Game Consoles: The State of the Battle for Supremacy AUTHORS: Christian Kostadinov 29114042 Ivaylo Baldev 29114047 Sofia 2010 Competition in Video Game Consoles: The State of the Battle for Supremacy Objectives in front of the case study The main objective that stands in front of our project is to clarify the present situation on the market of video console games. To present the strategies of the three main rival firms-Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, to see their advantages and disadvantages, to see what their mission statement is, to see who are their customers and in which market segments the companies are trying to penetrate or have already penetrated. At the end we are going to try to predict the future development of the battle. We are also going to compare them in the above mentioned spheres, with the help of a competitor analysis. Conclusions are going to be derived after every paragraph. In order to do that we are going to use different methods including- SWOT analyses, PEST analyses etc. There were two different variants how to structure the text- first to include the PEST and SWOT analysis in the text for every firm or second variant to add it after the analysis. The second way was chosen because we decided that using this method it will be easier to compare the firms. Additionally we are going to present the information in the most understandable way by a PowerPoint Presentation. Content: 1. Introduction...
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...Abstract Nintendo has been a major contender in the video game industry for the past several decades, and has faced the challenge of developing and maintaining competitive advantage over the years. With the introduction of the Nintendo Wii console, the company gained a stronghold as a leader in the video gaming industry. However, competitors Sony and Microsoft are quickly gaining on Nintendo’s competitive advantage, forcing the company to monitor and reevaluate its strategies. To maintain a competitive advantage, Nintendo must look toward influencing the customers of Sony and Microsoft, continue developing innovative technologies, and also consider the impact of social networking and mobile devices on the gaming industry. 3 History of Nintendo Nintendo Co. Ltd began its long history at the turn of the twentieth century as a Japanese manufacturer of playing cards. The company went public in the 1960s, and by the 1970s Nintendo had begun directing its focus toward electronic toys and video games. Nintendo became a leader in the video game industry in the ‘80s and ‘90s with its home video game consoles and popular game titles. Competitors began to emerge in the ‘90s; the release of Sony’s PlayStation platform broadened the video game market, and the rising popularity and improvement of PC technology led to the use of PCs as gaming platforms. Capitalizing on the popularity of PC gaming, Microsoft developed its Xbox game console in the early 2000s. While the competition focused on...
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...Abstract Nintendo has been a major contender in the video game industry for the past several decades, and has faced the challenge of developing and maintaining competitive advantage over the years. With the introduction of the Nintendo Wii console, the company gained a stronghold as a leader in the video gaming industry. However, competitors Sony and Microsoft are quickly gaining on Nintendo’s competitive advantage, forcing the company to monitor and reevaluate its strategies. To maintain a competitive advantage, Nintendo must look toward influencing the customers of Sony and Microsoft, continue developing innovative technologies, and also consider the impact of social networking and mobile devices on the gaming industry. 3 History of Nintendo Nintendo Co. Ltd began its long history at the turn of the twentieth century as a Japanese manufacturer of playing cards. The company went public in the 1960s, and by the 1970s Nintendo had begun directing its focus toward electronic toys and video games. Nintendo became a leader in the video game industry in the ‘80s and ‘90s with its home video game consoles and popular game titles. Competitors began to emerge in the ‘90s; the release of Sony’s PlayStation platform broadened the video game market, and the rising popularity and improvement of PC technology led to the use of PCs as gaming platforms. Capitalizing on the popularity of PC gaming, Microsoft developed its Xbox game console in the early 2000s. While the competition focused on...
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...services while treating their customers with attention and respect. Since 1983, Nintendo has focused on video game consoles and with the introduction of the Nintendo Wii console the company gained a strong hold as a leader in this industry. In 2008, Nintendo experienced various production and legal issues. However, their most significant challenge during this time was identifying and investing in innovative products that would allow the firm to continue to expand in the video game industry; while defending itself from rivals (Sony and Microsoft). Our analysis is based on various analytical tools, including SWOT (Appendix A), segment analysis (Appendix B), competitive strength assessment (Appendix C) and financial ratios (Appendix D). Overall, Nintendo has several opportunities and strengths of which they can take advantage to stay competitive in the market. However, their competitive threats and weakness pose significant financial challenges for the firm. Based on our analysis, we considered the following alternatives: 1. Continue to focus on the existing marketing strategy by differentiating itself from the competition; 2. Expand the video game product line to include games with improved graphics and functions for the current Wii in an effort to expand their customer base; 3. Invest aggressively in research and development to create a new video game console that takes into account the requirements for both the non-gamer and traditional gamers; and 4. Continue...
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...PLC of its first product, the Playstation 1. The case study will also evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies used to mantain the Playstation brand among the leaders of the market share by effectively managing their PLCs. The Playstation 1 - the Introduction process The irruption of Sony into what was then a very primitive video game market came in 1995 when they relased the Playstation 1 (PS1) in North America. The PS1 definatly had a huge impact in the whole video game industy as it was one the pioneers that helped the industry become what is now a multi-billion dolar industry that dominates modern entertaimet. Sony manage to differiante its new console from Nintendo, (who by far were dominaning the market at that time) who marketed themself as a more family-friendly entertaiment console. Nintendo has always provided Sony with some fierce competition, from the PS1's introduction untill the more recent years (2013-). This being said, Sony needed to come up with a marketing strategy that could position them into a respectable position in a market where Nintendo was the clear king. Their main focus has alwaya been on developing a gaming console with the best hardware possible to appeal to a demographic of around 12 to 30 years old males who were serious about being able to play high quality (for that time)...
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...Study With Sony On Penetration Pricing As Global Pricing Strategy Meaning of Penetration Pricing This is a marketing strategy used by firms to attract customers to a new product or service. Penetration pricing is the practice of offering a low price for a new product or service during its initial offering in order to attract customers away from competitors. The reasoning behind this marketing strategy is that customers will buy and become aware of the new product due to its lower price in the marketplace relative to rivals. It can often increase both market share and sales volume. Additionally, the high sales volume can also lead to lower production costs and higher inventory turnover, both of which are positive for any firm with fixed overhead. The tagline “special introductory offer” is the classic sign of penetration pricing. The aim of penetration pricing is usually to increase market share of a product, providing the opportunity to increase price once this objective has been achieved. Penetration pricing is, therefore, the pricing technique of setting a relatively low initial entry price, usually lower than the intended established price, sometimes lower than the costs too, to attract new customers. The strategy aims to encourage customers to switch to the new product because of the lower price. Penetration pricing is most commonly associated with a marketing objective of increasing market share or sales volume. In the short term, penetration pricing is likely to result...
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...With the video game industry being the fastest growing sector of the growing entertainment industry, the industry's revenue has now reached $26 billion in annual revenue and there is currently no indication of decline in the industry. So, in order to identify how the revenue is distributed, it's essential to look at the supply chain of the entire PS3 business. As seen in the supply chain, there are opportunities in many aspects of the console business, coming from the actual console sales as well as extras such as games. The customers, as identified by our segmentation analysis table, are at the end of the supply chain, and their consuming of video games are distributes across several actors. Additionally, the most known among the actors are of course the hardware manufacturers, which include Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. Except for the revenue coming from the console sales, they also get about 20% of the market price for the games, which are mostly sold in the growth level of the product life-cycle. The additional revenue in the supply chain is split among the other actors. Looking more closely at the publishers and developers, we realize that the publishers are likely to take a large portion of the revenue. Those are the large international companies that have sufficient funds to build a distribution network and employ developers to pull off new best-selling games for the consoles. Hardware manufacturers usually try to pull off deals with these companies when they identify...
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