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Is Nintendo's Mother's Day sale a bit sexist?

Vylder

Vylder

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Oct 25, 2017
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The following games are on sale for Mother's Day :

- Big Brain Academy
- Super Mario Party
- Animal Crossing
- Ring Fit Adventure

While these are all great and fun games, I feel find it frustrating that in 2022, mothers are only being advertised "casual games". There are a LOT of women fan of The Legend of Zelda, Fire Emblem, Super Mario, etc. So why just put these select titles on sale for the occasion?

We'll see in a few weeks how it compares with Father's Day, but I have the feeling the selection will not be the same at all.

Am I in the wrong for thinking that way?
 
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thetrin

thetrin

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Oct 26, 2017
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I don't think those were chosen because Mothers are women. They were chosen because they're considered "mom friendly". Like, any mom could get into those games, even those that don't play games.

When I saw that list, my own mom sprang to mind.
 
jph139

jph139

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Oct 25, 2017
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I assume they do have internal data that shows what games sell best to, say, women between the ages of 30 and 50, and theoretically would cater targeted sales along those lines.

Whether they SHOULD be doing that, something that may feel exclusionary to people in that demographic that aren't necessarily the majority, is a tougher question.
 
Armoredgoomba

Armoredgoomba

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Jun 17, 2018
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They are probably thinking of it in the context of what a very casual gamer would enjoy. Probably not the best marketing move but I know my mom who doesn't play games much does enjoy animal crossing.
 
PucePikmin

PucePikmin

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Apr 26, 2018
4,371
I'd like to see the full list of things on sale before making any proclamations -- I have a feeling it's more than 4 games! Also, both Animal Crossing and Ring Fit being on sale is kind of a big deal, so Moms oughta be at least a little honored.
 
Homura

Homura

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Aug 20, 2019
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I mean, Nintendo tracks every Switch activity, so they know which demographic plays which games.
This I believe simply means women of a certain age mainly play these kinds of games.
If for example, 99% of Switch female users played BOTW, then you would surely see AoC in there
 
Nabs

Nabs

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Oct 26, 2017
15,785
The mothers who play Zelda and all those games already do. I think this is more for the occasion. Games kids can get for their parents who maybe don't game as much, or don't have as much time to.
 
cw_sasuke

cw_sasuke

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Oct 27, 2017
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You think the target audience would rather have Fire Emblem on sale than Mario Party or Animals Crossing ?
 
SilverX

SilverX

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Jan 21, 2018
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Those are probably the games that have the highest demographic of female players
 
Dest

Dest

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thetrin said:
I don't think those were chosen because Mothers are women. They were chosen because they're considered "mom friendly". Like, any mom could get into those games, even those that don't play games.

When I saw that list, my own mom sprang to mind.
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This is where my head is at. My mom wouldn't sit down and play Zelda, but she would absolutely play Animal Crossing and Big Brain Academy.
 
Skel1ingt0n

Skel1ingt0n

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Oct 28, 2017
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Other than missing Mario Kart, that's like the only four Switch games my wife (and mom of 2) enjoys out of my 100+ games.
 
L Thammy

L Thammy

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Oct 25, 2017
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I guess, mothers can be from all types, but I also can't deny that the only video games my own mother would be or has expressed interest in are on that list.
 
kradical

kradical

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Oct 25, 2017
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Vylder said:
The following games are on sale for Mother's Day :

- Big Brain Academy
- Super Mario Party
- Animal Crossing
- Ring Fit Adventure

While these are all great and fun games, I feel find it frustrating that in 2022, women are only being advertised "casual games". There are a LOT of women fan of The Legend of Zelda, Fire Emblem, Super Mario, etc. So why just put these select titles on sale for the occasion?

We'll see in a few weeks how it compares with Father's Day, but I have the feeling the selection will not be the same at all.

Am I in the wrong for thinking that way?
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I mean, those are definitely the types of games my mother and her friends would be interested in. That's not to say middle aged women aren't allowed to like fire emblem, zelda, metroid etc. but I'm not surprised in the slightest if their market research shows "casual" games are more appealing that demographic.
 
DerMarc

DerMarc

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Oct 28, 2017
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Vylder said:
There are a LOT of women fan of The Legend of Zelda, Fire Emblem, Super Mario, etc. So why just put these select titles on sale for the occasion?
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It's not the "Women's Day Sale" though. I guess Mothers don't count as a main target group for Mario, Zelda etc. for Nintendo?
 
The Adder

The Adder

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Oct 25, 2017
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Vylder said:
My bad, edited my post.
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Mostly what I'm saying is:

If this was a women's day sale that would be different. But these are all games that can be played in quick sessions or with family. They make sense.

Father's day will either justify this list or make it look real bad in hindsight.
 
mopinks

mopinks

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Oct 27, 2017
31,581
nice try Nintendo, but the only game my mom has ever played in her life is Game Boy Tetris and she will never touch another video game ever again
 
TΛPIVVΛ

TΛPIVVΛ

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Nov 12, 2017
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I think this is a bit of a reach OP...although my mother will play smash bros fine with me when she likes to, just data metrics.
 
L Thammy

L Thammy

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Oct 25, 2017
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I should add that I got my mother Animal Crossing and while she liked it conceptually, she was thoroughly upset to see that her duck neighbour had a bathtub in his living room.
 
perfectchaos007

perfectchaos007

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Oct 25, 2017
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I clicked on this thread expecting to see something blatantly sexist like Cooking Mama in the sale. Nintendo should have mixed in hardcore games to go along with the casual games sale. Moms are not a monolith, as they all have different tastes
 
cw_sasuke

cw_sasuke

Member
Oct 27, 2017
27,697
Vylder said:
No, but at least have a wider variety of games on sale..
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I mean you are making sound as if mother are only able to purchase something from the eShop once per year on Mother Day.

Hundreds of games are on sale all the time and I'm sure that the audience that cares about more core experience, isn't gonna limit themselves to whats on sales on Mothers Day.

These are games that people might check out for their mothers that know about the traditional Nintendo stuff but less about the expanded audience games.

What you are describing would just be a standard Nintendo sale.
 
b0nk

b0nk

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Apr 6, 2020
171
Even back in the 90s, my mom, who was in her 40s, played lots of less-casual games on the SNES with my brother and I, like Castlevania and Mario.
 
chrominance

chrominance

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Oct 25, 2017
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PucePikmin said:
I'd like to see the full list of things on sale before making any proclamations -- I have a feeling it's more than 4 games! Also, both Animal Crossing and Ring Fit being on sale is kind of a big deal, so Moms oughta be at least a little honored.
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It's not. The sale is already live. It's only the four games.
 
Lotus

Lotus

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Ngl I was expecting something more blatant than this
 
_zoipi

_zoipi

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Nov 23, 2017
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They pretty sure have the data that says that the focus for that demography of age and gender (and pretty sure social status,c ause you should nave take the social surroudings of cultural products) says is the best to make efforts to promote those games. Like, mothers usually tend to have less free time because they're expected to give a lot of free time for chores, so short games are what suit them most.

Heck, here is see lots of parents praising short games.

So, yea, it's at face value sexist, but this selection is a product of something deeper than "nah, mothers only like casual stuff".
 
Canas Renvall

Canas Renvall

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Mar 4, 2018
2,850
Please think critically for a moment here... they track all sorts of data. They could probably draw an accurate sketch of you based on how much demographic info they gather.

This is just that data being put to use. If it sounds "sexist", then... bring it up with the moms that play family games with their kids, I guess??
 
cw_sasuke

cw_sasuke

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Oct 27, 2017
27,697
perfectchaos007 said:
I clicked on this thread expecting to see something blatantly sexist like Cooking Mama in the sale. Nintendo should have mixed in hardcore games to go along with the casual games sale. Moms are not a monolith, as they all have different tastes
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These games are all quite different from each other though.

Making it sound as if casual is like a single type of games. Plenty of people are very hardcore about how they play interact with Animals Crossing for example.

I think once you add in the standard Nintendo games....it's just another Nintendo sale, while this about highlighting experiences that the target group enjoys based on avaible data
 
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