XBLA Group Manager Heads to PopCap

Prepared for a career dealing with casual gaming, well-respected group manager for the Xbox Live Arcade Greg Canessa has left Microsoft for PopCap Games. Citing an interest in mass appeal for videogames and now helming PopCap's platform business, Canessa will be responsible for pushing the company's casual games out to new places. He says, of his new position: "I think we are looking at what could be the next Blizzard or EA in the game industry with PopCap, and I want to be a part of that." How important do you think casual games are to the future of the industry? Is the 'mass appeal' of these games really such that we could see a casual developer rise to the prominence of an EA or a Blizzard?

Comments

casual?

[cgenman]

What defines a "casual" game? All arcade games from their heyday would be considered "casual" games. Anything you can pick up and play, then put down, seems to be defined as casual.

I, personally, love casual games. And I really couldn't be considered a casual gamer.