Monday, April 30, 2007
Casual Games and the Evoloution of the Video Game Market
Gamers, and certainly game designers, often split the video game industry into two halves. Casual games and Real-Games. Casual games are notable for the lack of sophitication, simplistic gameplay and control techniques and poorer graphical quality. Real games are the cutting edge of game design, with up to date graphics, complex design and, often, lengthy gamplay. Many people who are familiar with games see Real Games as supperior, I believe that this is an industry trend that is driven by the fact that most games are designed by 18-35 males for 18-35 year old males. What this has led to is a culture of exclusion for other demographics. Spending money on realistic physics may attract a small section of the market, but it will mean absoloutly nothing to the majority of potential buyers. It makes little sense, more and more games competing for the same market along side spiraling costs is not a stratagy that can pay off in the long term. If you ask someone who plays games to design a game, they will come up with an idea that they want to play. And games will eat themselves.
Traditionally the majority of the industry’s focus has been on “real” games targeted at the adolesent to mid-thirties male audience. This makes very little economic sense. Casual games attract a much wider audience. Predominantly female and over eighteen, the casual games have the potential to open sections of the market that have eluded games designers for years. Nintendo recently release of the Wii and DS, both consoles that steer away from the model of traditional gaming, has left them with a year on year profit of 77% (link : http://uk.ds.ign.com/articles/783/783710p1.html), a new high for the company.
Casual games, while being much less costly to produce, also sell for much less. This is because the level of content provided is much lower than a traditional game. A possible way forward is to create games that have crossover appeal, the instant fun and accesability of the casual game and the sense of immersion that is prevalent in more hardcore games. A simple method of creating such a game is to employ a context for the gameplay. Storylines or narratives can be introduced as the reason for puzzle or quiz games. Characters could be used to personify the abstract nature of a casual game giving it a hook that would lead to wider acceptance among gamers.
Possibly this could lead to a wave of casual gamers desiring more complexity from their gaming experiences, moving the industry toward something that is similar to the current Real-Games. However this is something that would have to be consumer led, and a great deal of the industry has shown an inability to develop the kind of global market awearness needed to react to such a trend.
Gamers, and certainly game designers, often split the video game industry into two halves. Casual games and Real-Games. Casual games are notable for the lack of sophitication, simplistic gameplay and control techniques and poorer graphical quality. Real games are the cutting edge of game design, with up to date graphics, complex design and, often, lengthy gamplay. Many people who are familiar with games see Real Games as supperior, I believe that this is an industry trend that is driven by the fact that most games are designed by 18-35 males for 18-35 year old males. What this has led to is a culture of exclusion for other demographics. Spending money on realistic physics may attract a small section of the market, but it will mean absoloutly nothing to the majority of potential buyers. It makes little sense, more and more games competing for the same market along side spiraling costs is not a stratagy that can pay off in the long term. If you ask someone who plays games to design a game, they will come up with an idea that they want to play. And games will eat themselves.
Traditionally the majority of the industry’s focus has been on “real” games targeted at the adolesent to mid-thirties male audience. This makes very little economic sense. Casual games attract a much wider audience. Predominantly female and over eighteen, the casual games have the potential to open sections of the market that have eluded games designers for years. Nintendo recently release of the Wii and DS, both consoles that steer away from the model of traditional gaming, has left them with a year on year profit of 77% (link : http://uk.ds.ign.com/articles/783/783710p1.html), a new high for the company.
Casual games, while being much less costly to produce, also sell for much less. This is because the level of content provided is much lower than a traditional game. A possible way forward is to create games that have crossover appeal, the instant fun and accesability of the casual game and the sense of immersion that is prevalent in more hardcore games. A simple method of creating such a game is to employ a context for the gameplay. Storylines or narratives can be introduced as the reason for puzzle or quiz games. Characters could be used to personify the abstract nature of a casual game giving it a hook that would lead to wider acceptance among gamers.
Possibly this could lead to a wave of casual gamers desiring more complexity from their gaming experiences, moving the industry toward something that is similar to the current Real-Games. However this is something that would have to be consumer led, and a great deal of the industry has shown an inability to develop the kind of global market awearness needed to react to such a trend.
# posted by Matt @ 4:37 AM 
