Case Study: New Mario Bros. Wii

New Mario Bros. Wii, was released on the 15th of November 2009 in the U.S.A and then 5 days later in Europe. Mario Kart was already available on the Wii console but not the original Mario Bros. It is currently the 5th best selling game on the Wii!

Production

Nintendo produced and developed this game for their own console, the Wii. This new edition has and extra feature the 'Super Guide', Nintendo has indicated this and other added extras through the red case chosen instead of the traditional white. It was developed mainly for its four/multi player feature so that the 'Mario' single player experience could be enjoyed by multi players.

This is a first party game as it is developed and produced by Nintendo which is horizontally integrated. The have the game's, developer, publisher, console manufacturer and distributor all 'on board'. Marketing

The target audience for this game would most obviously be Nintendo Wii owners and specifically the younger generation aged from about 10 yrs plus.

In Europe, Nintendo did not even have it's own subsidiary to market the game, hence why the sales are the lowest here, (shown on the graph below). However Nintendo still marketed the product sufficiently in the U.S.A and Japan with Nintendo Wii bundles and novelty items etc.

America and Japan have a lot more nostalgia with the Mario series so once this particular product was heard of a lot of viral marketing took place in these countries.

Distribution

New Mario Bros. Wii mainly used the new model of distribution through being sold online through sites such as amazon and play.com.

However as the game in specific to the Nintendo Wii the old distribution model will have been used to a certain degree, stores will have wanted to sell this product and may have even sold it as a bundle with the Wii. So both will have been used here.

Consumption

The Mario series has been very popular for many years now so the appeal of this product will be high before it is even played because gamers will already like or dislike the game set up. The main appeal will really be tested through the console it is to be played on which is the Wii. This particular game will have never been played on this type of console up until now so the gamer will have experience this to see whether they like the new game play experience or not.

Some may think that the original console for this game is better where others may feel that this brings the game to a whole new level, its down to the individual when it comes to the console.


New Mario Bros. Wii is very accessible if you own a Nintendo Wii console but if you do not then it's not very accessible at all. Although, the game itself may encourage people to buy Nintendo Wii's, maybe as a bundle deal.

Personally, I believe that New Mario Bros. Wii has the potential to be enjoyed by all as it is a classic game that had just been adapted to a modern console.

To look at all of the new features of this game visit: http://www.mariobroswii.com/