Going casual

Two weeks ago, Guardian Games blogger Greg Howson revealed that casual games rule the UK charts: “Forget GTA, Metal Gear Solid 3 and the rest of the recent “hardcore” titles – Brain Training, Wii Play and the rest are outselling the lot.”

While according to the comments it’s unclear if this is due to staggered summer releases, over-hyped and inaccurate charts, or sticker shock, there are some truly insightful (and charmingly British) messages:

Commenter EvilBean reminds us to “Look beyond the weekly top ten chart. . . Has anyone mentioned WoW? You know, that MMO that found a huge market no one knew about. I think the same could apply with casual games. Is it silly to suggest that the Wii has hit a previously untapped market? Everyone here must know someone who never owned a console/gaming PC and now plays Wii. They are outside the demographic that visits this blog thing.”

User 5ynic proposes that the audience is the same, but are now finding themselves with more responsibilities and fewer time for playing games:

“As gamers grow up, I reckon some of the old hardcore are switching to casual games for at least some of their downtime, especially if their circle of friends includes non-gamers who visit…. Personally, I look for titles I can play with a bub on my knee, and/or in the 10-20 chunks of free time between work, housework, washing, drying & changing nappies, weeding the garden, cooking dinner for 3, doing the shopping, making babyfood and sleeping… And that’s more likely to be MarioKart WFC set to “Friends” than MGS4.
How my 22-year-old self would tut and shake his workshy, studenty, dreddlocked, grass-addled head if he could see me now.”

Howson promises to post a future entry about “hardcore gamers turned casual by time restraints,” positing that game choices might be affected by more by lack of variety than by lack of time. I have to disagree, though.

While I’m definitely within the demographic that visits “this blog thing,” I also fulfill both requirements for their new game-consuming audience – first, having no interest in first person shooters, and second, having basically no free time. My gaming experience over the past few weeks has been limited to reading forums and playing a little bit of Phantom Hourglass every night before bed.