Analysts are still keen to draw up the mythical casual/hardcore divide, and has accused the core gamer market of being "saturated," running a risk of stagnation if it doesn't appeal more to the fictional Holy Grail that is the "casual market."
IDG research uses the success of the Wii and DS to reach its conclusion, revealing that without Nintendo's figures, the international game market decreased by seven percent. "The middling performance of the 360, coupled with the PS3’s slow start has led IDG to the conclusion that the core gamer market is in fact saturated," claims the report.
Interesting points, but rather roundabout logic if you ask me. Firstly, removing any one company from global sales instantly makes for an inaccurate portrayal of the industry, especially given Nintendo's massive success of late. It also seems to focus its findings on hardware sales more than software sales. Microsoft famously tells everyone who's listening that the Xbox 360 sells more games than any other home console.
Put simply -- casual gamers are not the savior of the games industry. Why? Because they are CASUAL. They don't buy a lot of games, and constantly appealing to them won't shift software. Removing one company from the equation and using that as proof of stagnation is rather silly, if you ask me, especially as it seems to hinge on the belief that only casual gamers own Wiis. An erroneous assumption, considering I bought one at launch, and know plenty of "core gamers" that did the same.
Flawed report is flawed.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
6:54 AM on 04.26.2008
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Casual gamers occasionally buy a game.
Its the so called core gamers that would constantly buy games every month and inject the publishers and developers with their needed cash.
And I own a DS back when everyone thought it was a kids toy (Nintendog era). The DS is definitely more hardcore than most people would think. My library of games would strongly agree.
Well... Aside from my copy of Cooking Mama 2. Better than Mama FTW!
It's all bullshit. Whether you're casual or hardcore (whatever) if you like a game enough to buy it, you will, casual or hardcore or softcore or softbore or gamerwhore. I'm too tired to be fucking posting right now...
Anthony Burch.
Its like the dochebag movie enthusiast that are too good to enjoy a simple action or comedey movie.
On top of that, the figure that they use to show the 7% decrease, had Xbox, PS2, and GAMECUBE involved.
There, someone give me a job as an analyst.
If they did "strip the wii install base" (damn pedos), I would expect to see sales for the PS2, XBLA and PSN (mabye even tiger handhelds, oh yeah!) to rise. Sure the 80 year old grandparents may not persue other avenues of gaming, but there are actualy other ways to game "casualy".
Why?
Well, you can imagine that there are plenty of kids who got a Wii. They would just as easily be appeased with a nice Christmas gift of a PS3 or a 360 or even a handheld instead.
Teens and younger adults who have the money to pick and choose their console more than likely would have to resign to choosing one of the two remaining big consoles because they still want the ability to keep playing new games. Let's face it, the PS2 isn't going to be around forever.
That just leaves old people and people who haven't normally ventured into the world of video games because they weren't really interested. Out of 100 people buying a console, how many of those people are likely to fall into this category? Seven? Ten? Probably not a lot.
Anyway, just my two cents. I own a Wii, but I must admit that my enjoyment of it is mostly in the homebrew aspect...beyond that, it's SSBB, Mario Kart Wii (when it comes out and hopefully doesn't suck tomorrow), and someday F-Zero (PLEASE). I intend to get a PS3 someday when I have the money to spend on it (and more games of my interest are available) and I intend to get a 360 someday as well (when I hear less terrible RROD stories, perhaps...I *REALLY* want to play Lost Odyssey and Gears Of War).
This is the age of ADD, and nobody will dominate any market (aside from the evil Apple folks) for a given stretch, ESPECIALLY when the foundation of the market is/are (unsure of the grammer) people like me.
When it comes to market share, hardware is a small taste. It is all about the games. And even if you bought a Wii at launch, and got a 360/PS3 after the Wii, I'd be willing to bet that you own more games for either the 360/PS3 than actual Wii games.
There are only a handful of real games on the Wii anyways. Most of the stuff they release is mini game garbage time...Only most of the stuff isn't nearly half as entertaining as the "Rabbids" are. Are there some 'real' games, you bet, but far less than the 360 and the PS3 can offer.
Nintendo has done a great job in creating demand for the product by keeping enough out there to sell, but not enough to get them to the folks who maybe wanted one 6 months ago. Peoples interests flip in seconds instead of minutes anymore. And after Grandpa either dies, or needs his hip replaced there won't be such artificial demand anymore.
And the analyst is a fucking twat. You want to have your mind blown by numbers watch Celebrity Fit Club: Boot Camp...If you want horseshit call an analyst.
To a hardcore gamer, there isn't a genre that is worth trying if its an excellent game. Simply all games are good to go.
Besides you are missing the point of the article!
It seems you didn't understand what was written.
READ!
But if he did that, he wouldn't have anything to complain about. Please try and follow his logic!!!
The US economy is focused on growth. People don't buy stock in companies that will make the same amount of money they did last year (even though, for a business, that's doing just effing fine). So while the hardcore market can sustain companies, there is no immediate sign that they'll grow it. Are you willing to spend much more money in the future on games? Hard to say.
But of course, foolish is the one who thinks he knows the future. Some new cultural shift could suddenly turn more people into hardcore gamers, replacing TV and movies. You just can't really tell these things. Or maybe a new market will be created that includes hardcore and casual. Or maybe a sub-market within hardcore will be identified that actually will pay much more in the future for a certain kind of game. The possibilities are endless.
Reports like this serve little purpose other than to convince people if you happen to agree with it. If you don't, it's worthless to you and you should justifiably ignore it.
Undoubtedly, the Wii has brought new gamers into the fold. Previous generation games and the same genres that continue in full force on the 360 and the PS3 aren't accomplishing this as quickly as the Wii and Flash games.
As far as stagnation, what can you expect from an industry with huge titles with overblown budgets? The same thing happens in Hollywood. You get companies playing it safer and safer, keeping with sequels or which genres sell the most instead of taking risks. You're right, Jim. The hardcore demographic is the one that will sustain the industry. However, they are the ones who will also lead to stagnation in the types of games marketed. Which would lead to a bland, generic video game landscape.
Sure, they may be slight improvements from one game to another, but for the most part the landscape is fairly generic. We have our open world games. We have our FPS. We have our JRPG. And we have the countless iterations of Football, Baseball, Hockey, and Basketball games. The only thing that really separates this generation (minus the Wii) from the last generation is better graphics. And frankly, that's not good enough.
The introduction of the Wii and the DS shows that there are untapped markets that do not respond to the normal everyday genres that hardcore gamers are accustomed to. It's no surprise that hardcore gamers are not satisfied with the game selection on the Wii and belittle it every chance they get.
Will these people continue to buy casual gaming software on the Wii? Maybe, maybe not. But they do exist and money can be made by appealing to them. Market share will grow.
Oh an one last thing. You are correct that casual games do exist on other consoles. But I assume that the simplified controller on the Wii makes its casual games more accessible right off the bat for a new comer to gaming.
Maybe the ones that have kids those will know better and buy mario galaxy or/and mario kart for the wii.
If you want to include Nintendo, then things get more complicated. You have two drastically different products, Gamecube and GBA vs Wii and DS. GBA is obviously a childrens handheld, mostly by the fact that there are virtually no T or M rated games. The Gamecube attempted to compete directly with the PS2 and Xbox, but was suffering from the same thing the Wii is suffering from, lack of 3rd Party. Thus the GC=Failure overall (I loved my GC BTW). The Wii has next to no software retention overall, while the DS has more non-casual/T rated games. I love my DS, I play it more than my PSP by a large margin.
you sound like you enjoy playing games, but the fact is people who buy games far more often than yourself are what supported the game industry for a long time.
Personally i spend a shit load more money and buy games far more often than it seems that you do. and i like that. I own a wii and i want the hardcore games i buy on my other systems to keep appearing on that system instead of catering to those who aren't going to be the ones who are supporting this industry in the end.
Here's how I look at it: movies appeal to everyone, generally. But what if you started making movies just for people who, like, watched every movie ever or some shit. That's a flawed and stupid example since you can't make a movie like that, but what I'm getting at is stuff like movies and television appeal to everyone and are more popular than videogames.
If you make games that appeal to everyone, then the demographic is expanded. Then maybe some of those "casuals" will get into it more.
I mean, I want as many people to enjoy games as possible, since the gaming community is pretty fucking elitist, turning its nose from smelly, stupid casuals. Not that it affects me too much, since I am the core demographic, but I'd like for others to get into it too, you dig?
Seriously, I still believe that this console generation was pushed on us too soon. There was still a lot of potential that could have been squeezed out of the PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube. While a five-year system cycle might make the hardcore gamer happy, there's a far larger number of mainstream gamers who simply aren't going to be willing to upgrade that often.
But whatever. I can explain myself for the remedial until I'm blue in the face.
what is the difference between buying halo and gta or buying mario and zelda?
doesnt buying mario or zelda contribute to "supporting an unchanging game market" in the same way as buying halo or gta. i think u negated ur own point buddy cause i dont see nintendo creating any new IPs, but hey lets go kill ganon for the millionth time because damnit, hes just still not dead yet! :P
these are 4 of the sweetest game franchises of all time! why would u restrict urself from buying any of them ya crazy kid! ^_^
But they didn't even pretend to include software, periphals, downloadable content, and for the 360, XBLA access. Jesus on a wheat cracker, that's not a flawed conclusion on the state of games, it's an outright lie.
Yes, and that makes them part of their own target audience.
i'm not questioning your "gamerism" (?) i just meant to say that some people, like myself, but a ridiculous amount of games and that we'd like to continue being able to do so without the quality of them diminishing.
iv got nothing against your way of supporting the industry it just felt like your first post was implying that people can't spend more than you do on games so therefore people shouldn't expect developers to make more than a limited number of good games a year. of course i was drunk as shit when i made that post so plz excuse any dickishness that may have been unduly expressed through my misinterpretation of what you wrote.
plus dude i'm am already busy getting as many weird emo pins as i can in tWEWY, i'm not the halo/GTA addict gamer i play pretty much everything and love new and innovative games. Shadow of the Colossus being my most valued game in my collection should prob let you understand where i come from.
This doesnt really follow the rest of the comments, its more an observation, so to keep on topic: Jim, you're such a buzzword fanboy. I heard you hate innovation, why should I listen to you??