Casual Games are Dominating Hardcore Games

Dark Arcanine | October 03, 2008 | Interview | Playstation 3 Wii Company

Everyone's been reading the articles lately concerning the consoles war and casual gaming, as evidenced by such articles as Nintendo Digging Own Grave and on the other end of the spectrum Nintendo to Win the War.

Kathy Vrabeck is the "Casual President" for EA. She admits that hardcore games currently generate the most money in the market but she believes that casual is dominating. The argument is that hardcore gamers are fewer in number but spending more while casual gamers are larger in number but paying less. One suggestion for this is that hardcore gamers play solo while casual gamers group together due to the nature of the games, reducing the need to buy the products.

So is casual gaming really ftl? Or is it, in an undercover sort of way, actually doing rather well?

"I think [Nintendo] will be the first to tell you they have not expanded gaming households, but they have expanded the number of people in the household who are playing."

"The core consumer… represents a smaller percentage of users--but the lion's share of the revenue dollars – but the growth is coming from the casual consumer."

4 comments | go to source (www.casualgaming.biz) | Add to favorites!

favourite this article |

send to friend |

add alt source

216	Top 10 Reasons Hardcore Gamers Fear Casual Gaming (2) October 7, 2008
237	Top 5 Hardcore Games You’ll Want To Play In 2009 (11) October 22, 2008
75	Casual Gamers Vs. Hardcore Gamers: Round 2 (3) October 18, 2008
77	Hardcore Gamers Vs. Casual Gamers: Round 1 (4) October 10, 2008
437	Are epic titles like MGS4 disappearing? Kojima: "I feel a responsibility ... to create hardcore games" (3) August 29, 2008

Comments

0 thumbs!
Big Willie | October 03, 2008 | reply

I don't really see where that article says they're dominating. It says there's growth opportunity.
0 thumbs!
Dark Arcanine | October 03, 2008 | reply

I'm so not a Nintendo fan.

Dominating was just... a choice of wording I guess. Though "climbing up the ladder" would've been more appropriate, but I was getting at the whole subtle domination idea.

I hope it does grow for Nintendo's sake.
0 thumbs!
iLLmatic | October 03, 2008 | reply

Casual games aren't dominating anything, they're just selling to people who don't play games, thus expanding the industry more than hardcore games do.
0 thumbs!
Final Blade | October 04, 2008 | reply

_{While there is growth opportunity, doesn't mean the developers are utilizing the Wii potential and actually making a effort to make great games on the Wii though.}