NYT on the Rise of Casual Games

securitas writes "The New York Times' Michel Marriott reports on the rise and growing importance of casual games to the video game industry. Casual games are sold exclusively over the Internet, are downloaded to PCs from sites like Yahoo Games, Real Arcade and Shockwave.com, and are 'generally simple-to-play, short-duration games that are graphically unsophisticated'. Casual games will represent $250 million of the $8.4 billion in 2005 domestic United States sales according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. The article cites Diner Dash, which publisher PlayFirst says has 'sold more than 50,000 copies and continued to sell about 1,000 a day' at $20 per game. The article says that this type of game '... is not found on the shelves of video game or consumer electronic stores. Nor is it sold on the DVD's that deliver interactive 3-D fantasies to millions of PlayStation 2 and Xbox game consoles...'"

Comments

dupe?

[suttree.com]

I've read it before somewhere, that's for sure...

Or rather, enough telling us how popular casual games are, how about a casual games section on the NYT? Of all the major newspapers on The Guardian have a dedicated games section, but even they just spend most of their time either republishing press releases from i-play or blogging about how casual games are sure to be the next big thing.

It's time for the casual games discussion to move on from just talk. I'm hoping that the Casual Games Conference will be the start of that, especially as 3rdsense will be speaking there ;)

Bad term

[Pluvius]

The article says that this type of game '... is not found on the shelves of video game or consumer electronic stores. Nor is it sold on the DVD's that deliver interactive 3-D fantasies to millions of PlayStation 2 and Xbox game consoles...'

In that case, they probably shouldn't use the term "casual games" to describe them. Casual games (which are, you know, games that tend to be played casually) include sports games and The Sims, which are certainly sold in stores and on DVDs.

Rob

Re:Bad term

[Anonymous Coward]

Casual sex, casual needle sharing, and now, casual games!

Re:Bad term

[xenocide2]

I donno. Just because the distribution is different than the mass market games, doesn't mean they aren't targeted at the average (ie casual) person. I'd call the Yahoo! games casual games, after all. The gender balance is either equal or in favor of women players, and the hardware investment is minimal. These are pick up and play games, not go out and buy 20 dollars worth of hardware games.

This would be in contrast to say, Battlefield 2, a game that has most people asking the message boards "Does my video card run this okay?" And yet, it's not like there's any monthly fee that pushes you to play competitively. I'm sure there's plenty of people who play Counter-Strike and BF2 "casually."

Re:Word.

[MyLongNickName]

I, for one, look forward to the newest Orbitz game. I was pretty pissed when I couldn't direct link to them anymore ;)

Honestly, I have no time to spend hours practicing a game. I used to play Enemy Territory because it was simple to learn, and wasnt THAT hard to get okay at. I lack the time for even that now.

So, in short, I agree with you 100%.

Female Crowd

[Shadow Wrought]

Of the people I know who get into this simple easily played and dowloaded games, all of them are female. Now granted my universe is small compared to, say, the US as a whole; but I do wonder if the reason the game companies can't seem to court female followers is because they already have the games they are looking for.

MOD DOWN

[Anonymous Coward]

Total asshole. Mod down.

Microsoft has finally figured this out

[amliebsch]

Microsoft has realized the potential market here, and I think that it could be a "killer app" for XBox360 if they manage to implement it competently. Clearly they intend to leverage casual games and video chat on the Xbox 360 using XBL. Since XBL is (so far) uniquely well-adapted for this sort of thing, it gives them an early advantage in this field over other consoles.

http://winsupersite.com/images/showcase/xbox360_gu iderev_06.jpg.

This is, I think, what MS is really talking about when they play up their efforts to make the Xbox360 more "mainstream" and capturing a large segment of the market that doesn't traditionally buy consoles. Just how big that market really is, though - well, that's anyone's guess.

Re:Microsoft has finally figured this out

[Ronnie76er]

Possible problem with this is, will anyone spend $300 on a machine that would do that, when a computer can do that and so much more?

Perhaps tho, it could possibly be more of an incentive for parents to buy for their kids, but I don't think it will be a major selling point for it.

But I know I'll probably download some of the games from the XBL service and play them.

Re:Microsoft has finally figured this out

[soniCron88]

Microsoft already has Xbox Live! Arcade, which allows you to download and purchase a lot of these games right on your Xbox. The Xbox 360 will additionally have Arcade built in. As far as them having the advantage over other consoles, I disagree. The Nintendo Revolution's main selling point is the downloading of additional games and content. In addition to this, there have been numerous talks from Nintendo to several independent developers about creating content more focused on gameplay than technology. And at the price point that I think we all know Nintendo's aiming for, the Revolution will be a much more viable solution for such "casual" gamers.

Re:Microsoft has finally figured this out

[jchenx]

No one in their right mind would buy a $300-400 console just to play games like Bejeweled and Diner Dash. However, you're right that it's a good incentive for kids to use. "Hey Mom, if you get me the 360, you can use it to play Diner Dash!" Same would apply for husbands convincing their wives, etc.

It's not a major selling point (nor should it be IMHO), but it doesn't take that much work for MS to add it in, since they've already got a games site that distributes these casual games anyway (MSN Games).

Re:Word.

[bigman2003]

I play Xbox Live Arcade as my primary gaming now. I've been playing some stupid version of breakout (actually the best version I've ever seen) for a few months now...I think it cost $9.99 for me to download- and took about 1 minute to download and install. After I started playing Xbox Live Arcade, I cancelled my subscription to Gamefly...because I finally found the games that will actually fit into my schedule...

Re:Word.

[Anonymous Coward]

The Slashdot game crowd doesn't like to hear this type of thing, and no question, Zonk and his boy Timmy will log in under assumed names and use their unlimited mod points...

That's the weirdest thing to say. It's like when people on Fark say something inoffensive and follow up with "/one ticket to hell, please".

Re:Word.

[Babbster]

Perhaps "Zonk and his boy Timmy" will use their "unlimited mod points" to mod you down because you're a troll? I mean, damn. Slashdot posts an article discussing the rising value of the casual gaming market and you respond by using the word "shit" multiple times in an argumentative post that is not even replying to anything...apart perhaps from the voices in your head. That's pretty much the definition of a troll. :)

Re:Microsoft has finally figured this out/ Context

[securitas]

For some reason the last part of the post was removed, which is important for context since it contradicts the article and shows that Microsoft is ahead of the curve on this vs. its competitors. The last part originally read:

... The article says that this type of game '... is not found on the shelves of video game or consumer electronic stores. Nor is it sold on the DVD's that deliver interactive 3-D fantasies to millions of PlayStation 2 and Xbox game consoles,' but Microsoft already has its Xbox Live Arcade.

Yes, Xbox 360 will include a casual games component, no doubt because of research Microsoft obtained from the Arcade product.