Gender Games

When the Atari 2600 and the Intelivision video game systems roamed the Earth (circa 1981), boys accounted for nearly 9 out of 10 console and cartridge buyers. As hard core gamers moved from the consoles to the Commodore 64 and Apple IIe computers, boys continued to account for 90% of game title sales. Where were the girls?

In this Wall Street Journal article, the title sellers and the console manufacturers may have ignored the girl market at its peril. Females prefer to play more low key games. Sony and Micro$oft may have poured money down a hole convincing boys to play games on line.

We talked Thursday, July 15, about the consequences of targeting the wrong market. Ford's Mustang survived the company's target market miscue. What should Sony and Micro$oft do?

For these companies and the software titles like Electronic Arts, the market leader, and Sega, a fading star, women playing online could bring a needed product shift. Critics say that games are predictable, pedantic, and trite. The titles offer nothing new as far as gaming experience.

The women were there all along. Now, will the software people be there too?