Women and Video Games

There’s been a recent “paradigm shift” and all of a sudden women are buying video games.

What happened? Wii Fit. And sales are through the roof.

Wii Fit from Nintendo was introduced in May last year, becoming the best-selling game over its first 12 months and the most successful console title designed for women. Nintendo has sold more than 7 million copies of the game, which retails for $90 with a Wii Balance Board accessory.

Other companies have jumped on the “fitness game” bandwagon. “Everyone has seen that if you put out a good fitness product, you do good business and now everyone is getting in the game,” said Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Ubisoft. “There is going to be a lot of fitness games coming to the Wii this holiday.”*

Yes, another inroad on the path to a totally shut in society. Why go to the gym? There’s sweaty people there. Ew!

“When you think of the core level of people wanting to be healthy, as long as the industry can provide a way that’s convenient, fun and cheaper, it’s staggering how big the opportunity can be,” Jordan Edelstein, vice president of marketing at EA Canada, said.

There’s a downside though. As a study in England showed, women exercising indoors have caused up to £1.3 billion in accidental damage in the last year (yes, BILLION), as they increasingly give up gym memberships and use games consoles. (See, Women injured by Nintendo Wii and home gyms)

And last year researchers at Leeds Teaching Hospital identified an injury they called “Wii knee”. Osteopaths have also reported they saw an increase in back patients after Christmas, blaming the trend on fathers trying to keep up with their children on the machines.

I’m not terribly worried about this “paradigm shift” though, as I am kind of a grumpy old cynic, and I’d say that in about a year’s time that Wii Fit pad will be sitting next to the Nordic Track, and StairMaster and Ex-r-Cycle, underneath Sweating To The Oldies and Jane Fonda’s Workout tapes, out in the garage.. or at the back of the closet. About as remembered as “The All-Grapefruit Diet”.

But I could be wrong. Wii Fit certainly looks like more fun than the Nordic Track!

* Quotes from SF Chronicle  Wii Fit taps into new market for video games

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