THQ: Girls Have Better Things to do Than Game

[Logan Frederick]

THQ: Girls Have Better Things to do Than Game

THQ Wireless executive James Scalpello sees courting the female demographic as "a lost cause."

"I'm just not convinced by the whole 'games for girls' idea," Scalpello said to CasualGaming.biz [http://www.casualgaming.biz/news/27515/Games-for-girls-are-a-lost-cause].

Scalpello sees that other industries might be able to target women, but game developers haven't found a solution.

"I don't think there's ever been a successful game really pinpointed just for girls. I think it's a lost cause, quite frankly. Car manufacturers colour code bits of cars and for some reason it works. But it doesn't work with mobile games."

The mobile market for women is particularly tough to crack compared to hardcore gamer girls.

He explains, "You have hardcore gamers that are girls, that don't need to be patronised, and you have games that come with a phone - which girls will always play. But not in a million years would most girls connect to a mobile portal to download a game."

Essentially, he believes the interest in gaming boils down to the differences between the genders.

"It's much higher up the list of priorities for guys. To put it bluntly, girls [believe they have] better things to do," he said.

[Image [http://www.flickr.com/photos/virtualsugar/2554160540/]]

Source: CasualGaming.biz [http://www.casualgaming.biz/news/27515/Games-for-girls-are-a-lost-cause] via Computer and Videogames [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=190554]

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[Hey Joe]

Way to cut out half your potential profit......dumb ass

Yeah, The Sims didn't sell all that well. Not like a lot of it's playing audience were women...the guy's totally right.

Wow, my sarcasm meter's just busted.

 

[Saskwach]

Way to cut out half your potential profit......dumb ass

Yeah, The Sims didn't sell all that well. Not like a lot of it's playing audience were women...the guy's totally right.

Wow, my sarcasm meter's just busted.

Damn. Why do you keep beating me to the witty rejoinders? I refuse to let that stop me though.

Yeah, there aren't any games that appeal to women and do well. Except for all those games that do (*cough* The Sims, adventure games, etc *cough*).

Red Foreman's got it right. This guy is a dumbass.

 

[Jumplion]

He says "I don't think there's ever been a successful game really pinpointed just for girls"

Of course "Barbie Horse Adventure" was a complete success, amirite?

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."
- Lord Kelvin (1824-1907), ca. 1895, British mathematician and physicist

You license the 'Sex and the City' franchise to a good RPG developer, get some creative people working on stats like fashion sense and popularity, and think up some good "quests" to make it all work, you're gonna see cash printing out of the console.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Way to cut out half your potential profit......dumb ass

Yeah, The Sims didn't sell all that well. Not like a lot of it's playing audience were women...the guy's totally right.

Wow, my sarcasm meter's just busted.

Damn. Why do you keep beating me to the witty rejoinders? I refuse to let that stop me though.

Yeah, there aren't any games that appeal to women and do well. Except for all those games that do (*cough* The Sims, adventure games, etc *cough*).

Red Foreman's got it right. This guy is a dumbass.

Seconded. After all, women don't EVER play videogames. Its not as if Sims and all that nonsense werever commercially viable.....

Okay, there is no way in God's green earth I could apply as much sarcasm to this article as it deserves. So I'll summarise:

THQ exec= Overopinionated thicky.

 

[drawnbypain]

What about those key chains that people used to take care of their virtual pets on (which could easily be on mobile phones)? HUGE female audience for it. They just haven't hit the mark yet IMO.

 

[Jabez]

Aren't they called 'tamagouchis'?

 

[Dante_Alucard]

I know of some girls that play pokemon and guitar hero and rock band

 

[cainx10a]

Developing games with only Girls/Woman as a target audience is prone to failure; (Cooking games genre, Breeding little pets etc., Dolls adventures(wtf!?)). It only shows how sexist some game developers are to believe this will interest a specific gender, I mean, seriously, last time I checked, I am still a male, but I was used to play with dolls when I was a kid, yes, dolls, thats exactly what those DBZ and Saint Seiyas plastic models were at least to half of the people I knew, I don't mind cooking in real life, or even breeding kids or pets if I have to.

Man as a race has evolved past these old norms of us males being the bread winner and the other gender being the breeder and bleeder (mah moneh!!!). I have met my share of girls/women on MMOs, hell, even some FPS-es, I wouldn't go as far as saying that games these days need to be built to attract a specific group. Casual games is the way to go for any non-hardcore gamers, time for some more peggle, and you silly pony is on a one way ticket to heaven.

 

[Bongo Bill]

So boys don't have better things to do?

 

[fix-the-spade]

Aren't they called 'tamagouchis'?

I always thought they were called "Will you switch that bloody thing off!?"

 

[Saskwach]

Aren't they called 'tamagouchis'?

I always thought they were called "Will you switch that bloody thing off!?"

Tamagotchis. I used to have one, or rather, the manly version that it was ok for REAL BOYS to like. You know, the ones that started off cute and cuddly, but then evolved into monsters who would fight against other schoolboy's monsters and thus prove who had the better parental instinct. Man, I can't believe it only took a battle system for those sneaky feminists to emasculate us at age 8. And what's worse is I STILL wish those things would come back so I could battle some more kids in the playground.

 

[AmandaGamer86]

Wow that article is the most offensive thing ever, how can they give up on women like that. I feel very pigonholed. Truthfully alot of women prioritize, as i women i work for a Gaming convention as the asssitant manager when i tell people that they look at me like wow what a lame job but if a guy says that he's god. Its kinda like the double standard for sex its coll for men to do it but not women. What im trying to get at here is the fact that alot of women like me just feel like we have no choice but to put other persuits over gaming because we are looked at diffrently if we don't.

 

[KamikazeSailor]

He's not giving up on women, he's giving up on games specifically targetting women. I don't think that's a bad idea. Women have plenty of games to play, and there are plenty of hardcore gamers that are female... but all the games women play, guys play too... so it's a mixed community...

There is more likely a woman out there willing to play an all-guy game than there is a guy out there willing to play an all-woman game (except for perverts...)

The money in gaming development lies with what men and boys will play... the girls that play, added bonus and they're welcome! That's why most major games have different gender selections!

... but it doesn't change the economics of the industry. I don't think it's sexist, but he probably could've said it better.

 

[Arntor]

Aren't they called 'tamagouchis'?

I always thought they were called "Will you switch that bloody thing off!?"

Tamagotchis. I used to have one, or rather, the manly version that it was ok for REAL BOYS to like. You know, the ones that started off cute and cuddly, but then evolved into monsters who would fight against other schoolboy's monsters and thus prove who had the better parental instinct. Man, I can't believe it only took a battle system for those sneaky feminists to emasculate us at age 8. And what's worse is I STILL wish those things would come back so I could battle some more kids in the playground.

If I remember correctly, those were Digimon before it became a TV show. I still kind of remember an advert on T.V. for it.

EDIT: They were these right?

 

[soul_rune1984]

It's not what he said it's how he said it that may be somewhat sexist (unintentionally I hope)... I'm female and most of the girly games make me want to blow chunks. OK yes I do like to play Sims2 once in a while when I'm trying to figure out what game I should buy next. I usually play games like Silent Hill, Devil May Cry or a Final Fantasy and I want to get the Half Life games.(I suck at FPS games).

 

[slaygore]

Aren't they called 'tamagouchis'?

I always thought they were called "Will you switch that bloody thing off!?"

Tamagotchis. I used to have one, or rather, the manly version that it was ok for REAL BOYS to like. You know, the ones that started off cute and cuddly, but then evolved into monsters who would fight against other schoolboy's monsters and thus prove who had the better parental instinct. Man, I can't believe it only took a battle system for those sneaky feminists to emasculate us at age 8. And what's worse is I STILL wish those things would come back so I could battle some more kids in the playground.

I used to have them, but they were Digimon and back then digimon was cool. It was so fun just evolving my digimon and battling with my friends and get pissed off when I lose and it dies.

Edit: Argg Arntor beat me to it

 

[Frederf]

I suppose playing video games doesn't have the same appeal as playing the world. Why pay $30 for entertainment when you could easily have entertainment for free by one of how-many admirers that would gladly cater to your every whim and even buy you stuff that's worth $30 (or more).

Anyway, I suppose if you're a game developer that wants a female's buck, try looking around to what women actually play instead of releasing low budget Mattel knock offs. Women play shit like The Sims, MMOs, and Alone in the Dark. God almighty to girls get a huge erection over anything zombie/spooky. A lot of girls I know have a huge zombie or necro fetish. And forget about targeting the Quake chicks, they like guy games for being masculine. They aren't interested in feminine gaming obviously.