Gaming is going to the casuals

[pulse2]

Did that spark a little bit of annoyance? I hope so, this is exactly the same feeling I get when people especially analysts keep saying that iPhones, Social Networks and the likes of Motion Gaming is where the money is and is where gaming is going.

Even if that were true, how exactly is that good news? As much as I love angry birds, I don't want to have a future where the likes of angry birds sells more than GTA games and thus Rockstar starts making more casual games and less hardcore. Yes that's probably being cynical, but that's the picture that analysts paint when they say there is no market for 3DS, Vita and soon home consoles as well :/

So what do you think? Do you see the Kinect as a sign of things to come? Is casual gaming a threat to you?

 

[Richardplex]

Supply and Demand will keep gaming afloat. If all the companies went to 'casuals', then there would be too much supply and not enough demand in that area, while the 'hardcore' group will have a huge demand and no supply, and thus all the companies will return, until it balances out. I'm cool with Angry birds selling more than GTA games, because both casual and hardcore can play angry birds, but not GTA games. as long as there are those who feel like making games is making art, there will be games to make us happy. Also, companies that make good games will stay, while companies that care more about making money than good games will go. I don't see that as a bad thing to be honest. There will be less games, but most of the lost games are going to be the bad games.

Also, remember when the wii first came out and everyone bought it because it had motion control and was way ahead of the ps3 and 360, and the latter 2 companies were really worried because it looked like they would go bankrupt? funny how that turned out.

 

[tlozoot]

Did that spark a little bit of annoyance?

Yes, but not for the reason you were probably hoping. It gets really tiresome to see people constantly bemoaning 'the casuals'. I like how you snuck that phrase in as well. Makes people who enjoy casual games out to be some sort of enemy - some kind of autonomous threat who are out to get you and ruin your hobby.

I can understand passion about the industry, but really, stop being so insecure about it.

I say this in every single topic that runs to this tune: Gaming is growing. It's naturally going to spread its wings. New companies will pop up to deal with different kinds of audiences. Gaming isn't just 'our' thing any more and people will either accept this as another stage in the mediums evolution or continually ***** about it by clinging on to childish labels like 'hardcore' and 'the casuals'.

Conventional AAA titles you can sink dozens of hours into are not going anywhere, no matter how many copies Angry Birds sells.

 

[kickyourass]

I shall answer your questions in order.
As much as I'd like it to be, I doubt that the Kinect is a sign of the future.

HELL NO, casual gamers are not a 'threat' to gaming in any way shape or form. The way I see it the gaming industry NEEDS so-called 'casual' games and casual gamers even more so. Without games like Angry birds drawing in new customers (Especially younger new customers) the gaming industry would almost certainly stagnate and die, since humans tend to grow up and accumulate responsibilities that leave little time for 'hard core' gaming.

 

[Outright Villainy]

The game market is expanding. The casual market won't just supplant the hardcore one, they're aiming at two entirely different sets of people.

We have blockbuster films, and indie arthouse ones; they can easily co-exist since there'll always be different niches for different people. Gaming will change, but there'll always be something for you. Because you have money, and by god they want your money.

 

[Strain42]

Analysts also said that the DreamCast was going to destroy the PS2. So I don't put much stock into what they say. I'd just as quickly trust one of those fortune telling machines.

I own an iPod Touch and yeah, I freakin' love the large fun market of casual games available on it. For less than 10 dollars I can get 10 fun unique games that I have probably spent more time playing than any big console mainstream game this year.

But they aren't going to suck me in and become the only thing I care about. I've still bought a good handful of games this year, there are still plenty I plan on buying.

They aren't harming anything, so don't worry about it so much.

 

[Odbarc]

Don't buy it. Casual gamers won't jump to every new game like 'hardcore' gamers do. They'll run their profits into the ground by ignoring the 'real' gamers.

Also, my mother bought a Wii and hates a lot of the Wii-games. "casual gamer" games. (What should I suggest to her??)

 

[manythings]

Never bet the big money on people always wanting the same thing, it won't pan out. It's all about social gaming now until it's the next thing. It's all about reality TV until it's the next thing.

Analysts can say whatever they want because they are:
A) Right and get to gloat or;
B) wrong and get to say it was only a guess.

Don't get me started on people "Predicting" the future. 100% bullshit.

Also, my mother bought a Wii and hates a lot of the Wii-games. "casual gamer" games. (What should I suggest to her??)

A better console? OOO!

But seriously, I'd call the wii a lost cause. Sell it while you can and convince her to go with a DS. It just has so many better options and Nintendo really aren't releasing anything else for the next... well until the WiiU if things keep up like this.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Did that spark a little bit of annoyance?

Yes, but not for the reason you were probably hoping. It gets really tiresome to see people constantly bemoaning 'the casuals'. I like how you snuck that phrase in as well. Makes people who enjoy casual games out to be some sort of enemy - some kind of autonomous threat who are out to get you and ruin your hobby.

I can understand passion about the industry, but really, stop being so insecure about it.

I say this in every single topic that runs to this tune: Gaming is growing. It's naturally going to spread its wings. New companies will pop up to deal with different kinds of audiences. Gaming isn't just 'our' thing any more and people will either accept this as another stage in the mediums evolution or continually ***** about it by clinging on to childish labels like 'hardcore' and 'the casuals'.

Conventional AAA titles you can sink dozens of hours into are not going anywhere, no matter how many copies Angry Birds sells.

Yeah, this man stole pretty much everything I had to say on the subject. I 2nd this opinion.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

I have a paradoxical theory on how any iPhone game can outsell a "triple-A" title.

Are you ready?

$1 > $60.

 

[Cherry Cola]

Even if that were true, how exactly is that good news?

This phrase confuses me. You don't think people should report on bad news?

This man would've liked you

 

[lord.jeff]

Did that spark a little bit of annoyance?

It did for completely different reasons, because gaming has always been casual, unless you play games for money it's a hobby and therefore casual. Besides games like Tetris, Space Wars, Pong, and Pac man all came before the style of games that we play today and I say all of them belong in the casual genre of games. Casual games aren't new, we just have a better way of distributing them now. We'll always have are so called hardcore games so get over your superiority complex and just let everyone have fun.

 

[Sixcess]

Conventional AAA titles you can sink dozens of hours into are not going anywhere, no matter how many copies Angry Birds sells.

Unless developers decide that they can make more money from Angry Birds than they can from spending forty million dollars and several years making an AAA title.

I think there's a real danger of big titles being marginalised purely by how expensive and time consuming they've become to make, and I think yes we will see 'casual' gaming taking over more of the market, and some developers will be lured away by the prospect of more profit for less investment. I also think we'll see a rise in microtransaction style selling of games - DLC, maps, hats... call it what you will.

AAAs aren't under threat from casual games or gimmicks like motion controls. AAAs are under threat from how ridiculously expensive (and cosequently risky, from a business point of view) they're becoming to make.

 

[Elysis]

But casual games always will be part of the gaming industry. If you look at any other industry such as Cinema, or music, you'll always have a "mainstream" branch.
... If that makes sense.

Don't tell me you've never enjoyed a pop song that played on the radio, or watched a rather bad blockbuster teenmovie.
It's pretty much the same thing for gaming. Plus, Cut the Rope is freakin awesome when bored during a lecture. Why don't you give it a try?

On a side note, I'd say a great Game Designer is someone who has played any/many games : from triple A to casual.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Did that spark a little bit of annoyance?

Yes, but not for the reason you were probably hoping. It gets really tiresome to see people constantly bemoaning 'the casuals'. I like how you snuck that phrase in as well. Makes people who enjoy casual games out to be some sort of enemy - some kind of autonomous threat who are out to get you and ruin your hobby.

I can understand passion about the industry, but really, stop being so insecure about it.

I say this in every single topic that runs to this tune: Gaming is growing. It's naturally going to spread its wings. New companies will pop up to deal with different kinds of audiences. Gaming isn't just 'our' thing any more and people will either accept this as another stage in the mediums evolution or continually ***** about it by clinging on to childish labels like 'hardcore' and 'the casuals'.

Conventional AAA titles you can sink dozens of hours into are not going anywhere, no matter how many copies Angry Birds sells.

basically this, new areas are oepning in the gaming industry, its called "growth", just because it's happening doesn't mean your average "hardcore" games are going anywhere, and if they are they will rise again very soon.

 

[Cronq]

PC Gamers will give you no sympathy. Just hope and pray PopCap and Zynga are kind enough to port the ipod versions of games over to your consoles. After that enjoy all the "casuals" being shit heads to you while you whine about them defecating on your platform.

I call this Karma.

 

[gibboss28]

Did that spark a little bit of annoyance?

Yes, but not for the reason you were probably hoping. It gets really tiresome to see people constantly bemoaning 'the casuals'. I like how you snuck that phrase in as well. Makes people who enjoy casual games out to be some sort of enemy - some kind of autonomous threat who are out to get you and ruin your hobby.

I can understand passion about the industry, but really, stop being so insecure about it.

I say this in every single topic that runs to this tune: Gaming is growing. It's naturally going to spread its wings. New companies will pop up to deal with different kinds of audiences. Gaming isn't just 'our' thing any more and people will either accept this as another stage in the mediums evolution or continually ***** about it by clinging on to childish labels like 'hardcore' and 'the casuals'.

Conventional AAA titles you can sink dozens of hours into are not going anywhere, no matter how many copies Angry Birds sells.

Spot on.
OP: grow up and stop acting like a tool.

 

[Thaius]

The only troubling tendency I see for games in terms of casual gaming is to try to be more "accessible" after a long run of being for the gamers. Mass Effect 3 will be amazing, I'm sure, but the idea that they're trying to make it more accessible to people who haven't played the other games when this is the third game in a trilogy is more than a little stupid. So why would you cater to new people at the expense of the complexity actual Mass Effect fans, the only people who should even be playing the third one in the first place?

But in terms of the scare that all games 5 years from now will be Farmville and the medium won't be producing any more serious works, I don't see it.

 

[Del-Toro]

Is casual gaming a threat to you?

Gamers ***** and moan about how they aren't taken seriously and then they allow this kind of thinking to exist in their ranks. First of all, we should be glad that the general public is beginning to take to videogaming positively and second, it's a fucking hobby, if you are genuinely threatened by changes to it that don't really effect you than you deserve to have your enjoyment of that hobby destroyed.

I bet stamp collectors don't have to deal with this bullshit.