Sony thinks the DSi is for 12 year olds
Nintendo’s announcement of its revised DSi has excited many, but not many over 12, according to Sony. John Kollar, Sony’s director of hardware marketing has suggested that the DSi may not be of interest to an older audience.
“Nintendo has kind of a history of these [moderate] kinds of updates, and even with DS Lite, there was a lot of discussion, “Is that enough?” And they seemed to do pretty well there.”
I have to agree with this point. Nintendo has sold a lot of its predecessor and it does not seem like a lot is in the DSi to persuade the upgrade.
“Will DSi do well with [the DS's] demographic? It probably will. Will it be a product that expands their user base [beyond] under 12? I’m not sure,” he added. Although, hasn’t the DS demographic already expanded way beyond kids”
Do you think the DSi will convince users to upgrade?
The DS user base is definitely more than just “under 12″. It seems like every time I see my 36-year old cousin he’s playing on a DS. Granted, he’s playing his niece’s system but he is playing it. He has mentioned he will likely get one of his own soon.
I have a DS and my fiancee has a DS (25). My roommate has one and my fiancee’s mother has one.
I agree that the amount of changes/additions probably doesn’t warrant a re-buy. But on the other side neither did the changes from the PSP to the PSP-2000. And neither does the PSP-3000 warrant a PSP-2000 upgrade. It might if you own an original PSP. But that’s a bigger jump.
I suspect that the DSi will sell very well. Nintendo has been able to sell their systems like they’re addictive. The additions will likely send a lot of DS (or DS Lite) owners running to the store to buy the DSi. And somehow Nintendo will find even more people sell their new system to.