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Nintendo Case

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Case 4: Nintendo: Reviving a Company, Transforming a Market I. Case Background Nintendo is one of the household names when it comes to home video game consoles. It was a market leader until the launch of Sony’s Playstation and Microsoft’s Xbox. However, the launch of Wii in 2006 brought back Nintendo’s former glory and is now the company’s best-selling console. Wii focused on two things to transcend their competitors, PS3 and Xbox. First, as a low-price leader, they have a more favorable benefit-tocost ratio and second, they focused on “the fun of playing rather than cold tech specs”. With Wii being an instant smash hit in the market, how will Nintendo sustain this momentum and secure the future full of uncertainties? Point of View: Nintendo Management, year 2008. II. Issue Identification: How will Nintendo sustain the demand for its product, Wii, from non-traditional users while at the same time targeting the hardcore gamers into the brand? III. Situational Analysis Social: Escape from reality. Video gaming let the users stray away from reality, making them feel like they are really in the game having fun and not worrying about the harsh realities of life. Fun and sense of accomplishment. For some, gaming is a way to relieve stress and to have fun during leisure time. For others, video games are played seriously with aims of accomplishing the game successfully. Media for socialization. Video gaming usually involves not only one person. It is a catalyst of socialization, giving the users some bonding time. Alternative from physical activities. Friends or families who like to have fun consider video gaming as an alternative to other physical activities like sports or other games. Technological: Fast-paced technological developments. Constant innovations in the gaming industry result to fast obsolescence of most products and increasing pressure for companies to

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