DS Responsible for Industry Growth

According to the NPD Group, the video game industry saw 11% growth this past year, roughly 9.5% of which can be attributed to the Nintendo DS. These numbers would argue that Nintendo's strategy to expand the market from mostly male kids and teens to the female gender and adults may be working. Nintendo has released "the brain games" as well as other non-traditional games like Nintendogs, which bring in new gamers. These types of games, coupled with Nintendo's big guns, such as Mario (New Super Mario Bros DS) have lead to a successful year for the company.

Nintendo's own numbers suggest that many of the customers purchasing "Touch Generations" games include the over-25 and female demographics.

Reggie of NOA commented on the statistics, "Numbers dramatically show the value of reaching out to the masses with products that are compelling and comfortable. And this perfectly sets the stage for our breakthrough Wii console, which appeals to both core players and current non-players with an intuitive control system and a price everyone can afford."

We will soon see if Nintendo's competitors try to attack this newly forming demographic as well, but you can be sure that Nintendo will continue to make sure that these people will find games they will enjoy on both the DS and the Wii. Maybe Nintendo will go from being the system of kiddie games to the system of granny games? Um, Maybe not.