Hi, I''m trying to find out specific data on the age profile of Gameboy owners and any information on Nintendo''s target market for the GBA. I''m getting a mixed message here since all the GB Advance ads I''ve seen would seem to be aimed at young adults (dark tones, on TV around midnight) while most of the games are more child-oriented. For instance the restroom ad (guy goes to a restroom but is too busy playing on the GBA to do what he came for plus it''s all in very dark tones) - would you buy your kid a game console presented that way? All in all, the marketing campaign seems very "Playstationish" and as I recall Sony''s point was from the beginning to reach for a fairly mature audience - I''m wondering if Nintendo is trying to reach for that market as well with the GBA? So far, my searches have come up with mostly stereotypical references, you know, "Gameboy is kiddie stuff". None of them were directly based on sales statistics. Nintendo on the other hand denies targeting specifically kids and sees itself as a game maker for all ages (see the Nintendo interview in Edge #100). The only interesting reference to real data I''ve found so far is this: --begin quote-- Consider Nintendo, a well-to-do company with money enough to purchase the best targeted marketing. As if they need to, because it is obvious that Nintendo''s customers are children. Initially, this was the approach of Nintendo, and one of the biggest recent successes was the Nintendo Gameboy. However, Nintendo is a careful company, which pays to find out who is really playing with their toys. Research showed that at the height of Gameboy mania, almost half of the portable video games were purchased by business people who didn''t want to read the Wall St. Journal on their commute. This is a customer base both unexpected and most welcome because they can buy their own Gameboy without getting a parent''s permission. (Source: http://www.lambentweb.com/webpapers/targetmarket.html) --end quote-- So if any of you have any links to great data sources, I''d be most grateful. - Lasse

I''ve no specifics but am told that the GBA is selling extremely well to all areas of the gameplaying market.

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