Micro Lures Back Gaming's Lost Flock

Following Ross Rubin's most recent Switched On column about the Game Boy micro, comes this article in Next Generation that reports according to Japan's Enterbrain, "the impact of the GB Micro launch has been immediately felt on GBA games sales with a factor-jump of 1.5. The article states the introduction of the micro has "brought back numerous past videogame users. It also appealed to many non videogame users, including the female audience."

The article offers up some interesting stats on what games micro owners are playing and looking forward to purchasing. One of the most interesting facts is the demographic of users in Japan:

Game Boy Micro users’ demography:
- 47%: early 20s
- 43.9%: 30s
- 6.8%: late 20s
- 2.3%: 40’s +

It's too bad they didn't breakdown how many were female, but the fact that more than 50 percent are in their late 20s and older is very impressive. As the article states, the Game Boy micro is bring former as well as new gamers back in the fold.

This validates something I said back in August when commenting on the potential of the micro and IDC analyst Schelley Olhava's very simplistic segmentation of the mobile gaming market. Olhava said in a Washington Post article that "Younger players tend to gravitate toward the Game Boy, 18-to-34-year-old guys reach for Sony's PlayStation Portable, and the cell phone market has more adult women fans." I wonder what numbers IDC is getting now?