Wii Fit don’t fit inside broken homes
Ah, families — the crux of Nintendo’s longstanding, and expanded, marketability. Wii Fit should be a hit. But wait. Miyamoto didn’t design WiiFit for separated families. In the U.S., the divorce rate is 50%. Dilemma.
While Wii Fit has become somewhat of a family sensation in Japan, Miyamoto says he’s not sure how an American audience will receive the game. When we asked Miyamoto what he expected from American consumers, he noted that on average, American families are apart more often than those in Japan. A lot of families have parents who have separated or divorced, so it’s tougher to predict the role family will play in the American response to Wii Fit—and we couldn’t agree more.
Expect Wii Fit sales predictions to be a packed with a substantial amount of modesty, though i think plenty of fanmen wil buy the game when it gets here. No-one can really distinguish between families who buy it and the “open-minded” geeks who convince themselves that owning Wii Fit will make them a more holistic, well-rounded person.
You know, when you think about it, the whole logic behind the Wii is family-based… but only in Japan (and many other countries, really). But in U.S. families, even if the parents aren’t divorced, its members usually play separately. Even a mental picture of a U.S. family having fun together brings back painful memories of the 70’s Patridge Family or The Brady Bunch. We are now more of a Married with Children or The Simpsons kind of family, IF the parents are not divorced, that is!
Therein lies the curse of the Wii: its not designed for men living alone to have fun. If that happens, its a side-effect!