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

Geometry Wars changed my mind

[Kazzahdrane]

For a long time I thought, "why would people want to pay for 'casual' games that they can play for free on the 'net?". Then I played Geometry Wars on the 360, and later Zoo Keeper on the DS and now believe that even if a "casual" game is simple and easy to play it can still be a big hit with console and PC gamers. As long as the price is kept fair (Zoo Keeper I picked up pre-owned at a much reduced price from my workplace, so I didn't pay the same as a fullprice DS title) then casual games certainly have a place in modern gaming. Castle Crashers, an XBLA game (with 4-player co-op!) from the team who made Alien Hominid will likely be my next "casual" game purchase, and I'm considering picking up Lumines Live! for the occasional 30-minute break from work.

With EA's profits falling - blamed on the high cost of "next-gen" development - I think PopCap stand to really benefit from raising their game and bringing new gamers into the fold.