Gaming is going to the casuals

[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.

I don't use the word casual because it doesn't strictly mean anything but I can see why people hate the "casual" games of today. The games that are commonly known as casual today don't even stack up to those games you brought up from 30 years ago. Space War has more nuance than any any versus game in wii sports, Pac-man and Tetris were more inventive than Angry Birds which is practically a run of the mill newgrounds game. Entry level games of today are worse than early games and I think that's a valid reason to complain about "casual" games imo.

That's a good point, but main stream games suffer from the same problem of not being able to bring constant new ideas to the table as well.

 

[Suicida1 Midget]

Mostly the games like cod, halo, ect will stay afloat but the market has already started to drift the the casual gamer. however as the majority of the typical to hardcore gamers stay with the above, causal gamers will fallow (noob tubes/insert noob items here primed and ready) to ruin er noob it out with everyone else. We will be safe just more of a delay in production.

 

[KiKiweaky]

I wouldn't really call it a threat, not all people feel like playing or can play games that take a large investment of time. And I wouldnt call it dumbing them down either, its just a different type of game for different people.

If anything the gaming market has gained from this explosion of casual games. Big releases are making as much if not more than box office hits which is pretty neat.

 

[Chibz]

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

Monster Hunter 3, Okami, Super Castlevania 4, Wonderboy 2 and I dunno. Come back to me when I an think of a good 700 point wii shop channel game.

That should do her for a while. Get back to me when I'm *Yawn* not quite so tired.

 

[nexekho]

I think you should be more worried about what would happen to the industry if it does all turn casual. Casual games take a tiny percentage of the man-hours AAA games do, meaning either the market would flood with cheap as hell games and collapse or 9/10 of the industry would be sacked for downsizing, probably somewhere in between.

 

[bassdrum]

Did that spark a little bit of annoyance?

Yes. Yes, it bothers me that people think the casuals are killing gaming. Look, it's a matter of supply and demand--gamers demand a certain type of game, so companies supply it to them. Casual gamers demand casual games, so casual games get made. The thing is, though, the industry is big enough to do that AND make the games that us 'core gamers' like. As long as we're still a market, and as long as there's enough demand for what we like to play, it'll keep getting made. Just because a new market emerges doesn't mean an old one automatically dies--Rockstar'll keep making games for you and I, even if Popcap and Zynga become the biggest things in the gaming industry, there'll still be space for us too.

So, everyone pissed off at 'the casuals':

Chill out. It'll all be okay. Keep buying games, and you'll keep getting games. There's really no reason to be angry at anyone.

 

[Manji187]

Two different sets of people...sure....in different numbers too (majority/ minority)...willing to spend different amounts of money on products of differing complexity/ cost. Sure, casual will not completely supplant hardcore...but it might divert a substantial amount of resources (time and money) if it really turns out to be the place "where the money is" (what the analysts are trying to achieve by way of a self-fulfilling prophecy).

I think it'd be silly to say that the casual market is where the safe money is. The safe money is right here, because it's tried and tested, for decades. They know what we want, they nearly always know if it'll sell or not. With a casual market, who knows. It's still largely untested waters. Copying a gimmick that caught the public eye might be seen as old hat, trying something new might not catch their attention. They don't know what's repeatable. And it's telling that Nintendo, the clear winners of the last console generation, are moving away from casual audiences (for their home console anyway). The casual market doesn't have as much an interest in buying software over time, and they're not as likely to be repeat customers.

We'll still crave the games they know how to make. We're the safe bet. There's certainly money there, but there'll always be money here too. They want to get money somewhere else, but they're not giving up the chance to get our frickin' money, when they know exactly how to do so.

I sincerely hope that you are right, but I fear you may be wrong.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-6-most-ominous-trends-in-video-games/ (page 1, #4 and especially page 2)
http://www.industrygamers.com/news/epic-99-cent-apps-are-killing-us/ (Epic...of Gears of War fame)
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-stupid-facebook-games-made-zynga-the-most-profitable-company-ever-2011-2

Say what you will about Cracked...some of the articles are rather enlightening.

EDIT: also

http://altdevblogaday.com/2011/06/06/gamedev-we-need-to-aim-higher/

Part of a specific comment (Tim Trzepacz) is especially relevant:

"However, raising the cost of development also means raising the RISK of development. As costs rose to a point where developers could no longer self-fund, the large publishers rose to handle the funding and marketing of games. As publishers are paying all of the bills, they call all of the shots. Ask Ted sometime what happens if you miss a deadline with Sony...

Publishers, having a lot of money on the line, try to reduce their risk. Mostly they do this by making things that they know how to market. Often that involves slapping a license on something, imitating a game that is already successful. They also try to reduce their costs, which generally means paying for only what gets used, and not doing any R&D or experimentation. This is directly what leads to "me too" game syndrome."

Basically...it's all about financial risk. Risk that has become too high in the triple-A title arena. Risk that the industry is seeking to avoid in one way or another....to survive.

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

I found that "article" on Cracked to derail into an angry fanboy rant rather than an honest attempt at genuine journalism. But hey. You go on ahead and give as much credibility to that article as you want if it makes you feel better.