Carl, I read that article you linked to a long time ago and while it's insightful and I agreed with it at the time, I don't think you can really consider it their strategy. Maybe my memory is failing me and I remember it wrong but what that article talks about is the innovation behind the controller and why it'll make money in the current industry. Nintendo's strategy is much broader than that. They aim not only for kids (like someone else mentioned) but for everyone. They want to tear down the boundaries and stigma created by the hardcore gamer.
What Sony and Microsoft do in that respect is to advertise games to gamers, trying to convince them that video games are cool. If the market only tries to appeal to its core audience it'll only become more and more niche.
Nintendo wants to get rid of the stigma of video games by saturating the market with casual gamers. When more and more people play games, it stops being weird. Videogames will lose their stigma. If you want more insight into Nintendo' strategy look at the articles by this guy. He really goes deep into analyzing Nintendo's strategies (and the industry in general), and he uses a lot of sources while doing it.
As for the article I'm commenting on, it really hits the nail on the head. Simplifying things for the user. The competition focuses on the product losing sight of the consumer, often overshooting the market based on the opinion of fanboys and hardcore enthusiasts. In doing so they alienate everyone else. Nintendo's looking at what consumers want. They are looking at what walls are preventing consumers that aren't playing from doing so and trying to tear down those walls.
by Brendon — Nov 01
What Sony and Microsoft do in that respect is to advertise games to gamers, trying to convince them that video games are cool. If the market only tries to appeal to its core audience it'll only become more and more niche.
Nintendo wants to get rid of the stigma of video games by saturating the market with casual gamers. When more and more people play games, it stops being weird. Videogames will lose their stigma. If you want more insight into Nintendo' strategy look at the articles by this guy. He really goes deep into analyzing Nintendo's strategies (and the industry in general), and he uses a lot of sources while doing it.
Here you go
As for the article I'm commenting on, it really hits the nail on the head. Simplifying things for the user. The competition focuses on the product losing sight of the consumer, often overshooting the market based on the opinion of fanboys and hardcore enthusiasts. In doing so they alienate everyone else. Nintendo's looking at what consumers want. They are looking at what walls are preventing consumers that aren't playing from doing so and trying to tear down those walls.
Nintendo parallels Apple well in those respects.