Nintendo Wii the Most Important Factors in Case Study

Nintendo Wii

The most important factors in the external environment for the Nintendo Wii are the demographic, economic, political/legal, sociocultural, technological and global environments. Each of these different environments is important to the Nintendo Wii product and will be discussed in turn.

Video game consoles appeal to a wide demographic. Consumers in both the boys 2-18 bracket and the men 35+ bracket both favor the Wii above all other consoles. The product also has strong appeal among females. There is no one typical console consumer, but they skew towards the male and the developed world. The largest cohorts in the United States are the baby boomers, who are not a prime target market for consoles, and the baby boom echo, who are. The core of the echo is 18-35, and they favor other consoles such as the PlayStation 3 (Nielsen, 2008).

The economic environment is characterized by long-term economic slowdown in core markets in the West and in Japan. The economic outlook for much of the West is poor, with little chance for recovery. The stronger, growing economies of the world are to be found in China, India and Brazil (Alderman, 2010). Video game console sales are subject to downturn in difficult economic times, but this slump could be erased when the next generation consoles are launched. Of specific current concern is the threat representing by a decline in the U.S. dollar, which would make important goods such as Wii consoles more expensive (ibid).There is little threat of the political/legal environment. Trade ties between Japan and the U.S. remain strong, so there is little threat of interference on the part of government in the operations of Nintendo with respect to the Wii. There are some political concerns with respect to emerging markets.

The sociocultural environment is positive for the Nintendo Wii. Video game consoles enjoy widespread popularity among a broad range of demographics. There are some minor concerns with respect to violence in video games. Because of the direct interaction between the Wii game and the user, the console runs the risk of becoming a flashpoint for concerns about video game violence (MAVAV, 2007). In general, however, such concerns have not dampened the widespread popularity and acceptance of video games among the general population. For a time, the Wii benefited from a reputation as a console that could help users to get exercise while playing video games.

The technological environment is the most challenging for Nintendo. The three major console makers each compete vigorously with each other and with computers for share of the video game industry. Technological advances -- with respect to graphics, sound, processing speed and other elements of gameplay -- are rapid and at times significant. A relatively new console can….....