PAX 2007 Panel
Casual Games in the Hardcore Space
Tags: Penny Arcade Expo 2007 Categories: Features, Tech Features
Posted by Mike "Two Tone" McConnell on Aug 29th, 2007
Casual games have sprouted faster than a weed soaked in Miracle Grow. Covering a span from Bejeweled to Wii Sports, casual gaming seems to be more and more of an outdated umbrella term. Ed Allard from Pop Cap Games gives a good description of the beginning, “The way we used to define a casual game, is could my mom play it, and would she; but, that’s not true anymore.”
PopCap of course is the home of casual gaming. They have developed some of the genre’s biggest hits, as well as pioneering some of its best business practices. They have their games on millions of PC’s as well as on XBox Live Arcade. When the definition is questionable for the arguable leader of the industry, what exactly does it mean?
“A casual game is something you can easily get into,” says Nick Waanders of Slick Entertainment. This seems to break open the Moms only idea that the games started from, but still keeps a tight definition of what comprises a casual game. He adds, “User generated content will get bigger and bigger.” He’s right about that one, as clearing houses for homemade games spring up all over the Internet. This irked the rather friendly crowd, because despite the fact that Java was free most of these sites relied on flash, which many felt was cost prohibitive for amateurs. Jessica Tams of the Casual Games Association was dismissive, “I don’t even have Java installed on my computer.”
It is true that Java has compatibility issues, especially with Windows. However, it seems a little off that, for all the talk of user generated content, and the main development tool is about 500 bucks. This means that, web designers and others with non-game uses for Flash may be involved in this movement, but it is already scaling beyond the bedroom programmer.
Much of the panel seemed concerned with how to monatize the games, while the crowd seemed concerned with how to develop their own games. The gulf seemed to grow wider, as the topic of microtransactions and sales figures cropped up. Jessica Tams had a brutal figure that only 2% of downloaded games are bought after the trial period. Ed Allard seemed to rebuff the doom and gloom, “In casual games there are three tiers. There is the webgame, the downloadable trial users, and those who buy the deluxe versions of the game.”
The lines between casual and hardcore will blur, as Moms and Dads get addicted to various online games, nearly as much as their kids are enthralled with the newest console game. That isn’t to say that casual games aren’t finding their way onto consoles. Pop Cap already has Heavy Weapon on Xbox. Nintendo has already announced that smaller games will be available via their download service. Casual gaming isn’t just for your mom anymore.
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Tags: Penny Arcade Expo 2007
Posted by Mike "Two Tone" McConnell on Aug 29th, 2007 and is filed under Features, Tech Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
