This year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC) featured a myriad of keynote speakers, on a variety of topics. One speech really made me scratch my head in confusion. PlayFirst CEO John Welch told attendees of the Casual Games Summit (a sub section of the GDC) that “casual games” may soon eclipse “hardcore games.”
WTF?
First off, I’m sure a lot of you are wondering what the hell IS PlayFirst? The short answer: it’s a development studio and third-party publisher for mobile, PC, Mac and online titles. Among PlayFirst’s Top Ten are amazing titles like Diner Dash, Sally’s Salon, Wedding Dash and the “AAA” juggernaut Doggie Dash.
Never heard of any of them? Don’t worry, me neither. I was to busy playing titles of actual quality that didn’t make me feel like I was riding the short bus.
Mr. Welch kicked things off with this gem:
“we have the opportunity to elevate video games to become a first-tier form of entertainment, like TV. We will have succeeded when ‘casual games’ goes away as a category, and ‘hardcore games’ is the niche.”
Right off the bat, I have to assume Welch has been in a coma since 1998. Video games are ALREADY a first-tier form of entertainment on par with TV. Hello, it’s a multi-billion dollar industry… 2007 was the most successful year in video game history for pete’s sake! Not to mention, that just because a game wasn’t made over the weekend and can’t be played on your phone, doesn’t mean it’s “hardcore.” Also, I don’t see how any of PlayFirst’s titles are helping to “elevate” video games.
From the way he was talking, he made it seem like every game outside of his bargain bin assortment was “hardcore.” I’ve heard of “hardcore gamers,” but what exactly IS a hardcore game? A title created by talented developers who produce feature film level entertainment that pull audiences (gamers) in and are not so easy and/or childish as to bring to mind flashbacks of pre-school? The casual game category is here to stay my friend.
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4 responses so far ↓
1 flamingsquirrel // Feb 20, 2008 at 10:37 am
awesome article, I loved it!
2 TempleDog // Feb 20, 2008 at 12:56 pm
This is the precise problem with the Wii…bandwagon jumpers. Whenever a genre becomes pop, it attracts the hyenas…suits who pump out crap, turn a quick profit, then jump ship. It killed the animation market and pretty much led to the downfall of Disney before the Pixar merger. And it has the potential to kill the webgames and downloadables market as well. The saving grace here is homebrew and indy developers trying new game ideas…development costs for online games remains fairly cheap, with development software and systems easily affordable by small shops. So even if the fly-by-nights deluge the market with shovelware, there’ll still be great niche titles like N, Geometry Wars and Castle Crashers, as well as puzzle and word games for those who like ‘em.
3 Olly Newport // Feb 20, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Hey, I play all sorts of FPS, RTS, RPG, any sort of three letter acronym but my mate played Diner Dash and I kinda…got…hooked…SORRY!!!!
4 Adam // Feb 21, 2008 at 12:08 am
If this is what it’s like when games finally become publicly accepted, then I’d rather take my gaming back to the basements.
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