Women Are the Majority Gamers in Japan

There was a giant retail conference by Nintendo last night in Japan where they announced multiple new games, Wii channels, and statistics. Sonic the Hedgehog is a playable character in Super Smash Bros Brawl (now an early 2008 title), DS demo and Mii comparison channels were announced and dated, and many original WiiWare games were announced. The biggest (or should I say suprising) news of them all was in regards to some data Nintendo released about the Wii and DS demographics in Japan.

According to a Times Online article Nintendo has announced that women are now the majority gamers on Nintendo systems. According to Nintendo’s own Japan-only figures, 51 per cent of Wii users and 53 per cent of players on the handheld DS machine are women. That is an incredible statistic considering the gaming industry has always been dominated by males. Essentially what this means is Nintendo has essentially doubled the market for the gaming industry. If women are now willing to buy video games, they have a far larger group of people to draw sales from. This doesn't mean the market has doubled exactly, but judging by the sales of the Wii and DS in Japan, the market is definitely increasing.