Coffee Talk #454: Who is the Mainstream Gamer in 2012?

As some of you know, I’ve been watching the panels and talks from DICE 2002. One of the dominant themes of the show was attracting the mainstream and mass markets. It’s hard to believe how far gaming has come in 10 years. Between consoles like the Nintendo Wii, mobile games…

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As some of you know, I’ve been watching the panels and talks from DICE 2002. One of the dominant themes of the show was attracting the mainstream and mass-market consumer. In 2012, the issue has changed. The mainstream consumer is a gamer. It’s hard to believe how far gaming has come in 10 years. Between consoles like the Nintendo Wii, mobile games, and Facebook games, the mass market is arguably a bigger deal than the enthusiast-gamer market.

Back then, the talk was about attracting casual consumers. These days, most people play some sort of videogame. Part of it is how the industry has progressed, but part of it is that gamers simply got older while a whole new generation has grown up with games as a standard form of entertainment. (And not to be morbid, but a lot of people that viewed videogames as a foreign or unusual thing simply died.)

Originally I was going to ask you, “Who is the mainstream gamer in 2012?” After typing all this out, perhaps the better question is, “How can companies turn casual gamers into enthusiast gamers?” Getting someone to play a game on the iPad 2 or on Facebook is easy. Is there an opportunity to “graduate” those gamers? Can they be turned into players that buy PlayStation Vitas and Xbox 720s? Who are the new targets in 2012 now that gaming in mainstream? How can traditional videogame companies snag them?

Author: RPadTV

https://rpad.tv

51 thoughts on “Coffee Talk #454: Who is the Mainstream Gamer in 2012?”

  1. Well, let's take FarmVille as an example.

    If Zynga made a console version and offered bonuses for playing both, I suppose that may work.

    But my wife for example, simply struggles with the controls. I suppose that motion controls helps in this regard, but it's simply not enough.

    So, I'm gonna go outside the box and go deeper into the psyche of the elderly… Real time online Bingo. With payouts.

    1. I agree with that. My female friends that don't play games say the controls are too complicated, including my girlfriend. She refuses to play L4D for that reason. I keep trying to tell her that I can change the settings to make it easier. All you really need in that game are the two joysticks and the right trigger.

  2. First off, I'm kind of disappointed you didn't use a Ghostbusters picture for this article. A picture of them "crossing the streams" would have cemented your geek cred. With that serene forest thing… I don’t know, man. I think you miss San Francisco more than you realize because your hippie side is showing.

    Second, I agree that most people are gamers now, since games are so accessible now through all different sorts of devices. Hell, the 63-year-old guy that works at my office even plays Free Cell when he's not working and that guy doesn't even have a mobile phone or knows what a Playstation is. That said, there is absolutely nothing any company can do to make that old guy "jump" to a more hardcore platform like a Wii or a smartphone. It just won't happen. For all the other casual players; it depends.

    We got to the point we got to because games evolved with us as we were growing up. Games progressed step by step and we chose to stick around for the ride. Not everyone did, however. A lot of these casual gamers are quite content with their Farmville and Words With Friends (I just got the app, by the way. Please add me. My name is "Raven Down"). It is hard to imagine these people one day playing Gears of War. I think one of the reasons is the high barriers to entry such as price and complex control schemes. A simpleton who only prefers the 99-cent Angry Birds game that can be controlled with one finger is probably not going to buy a $60 Call of Duty game.

    That said, I'm sure that there is a small group of gamers that are more likely to make the jump and I believe that the key is introducing semi-simplistic games at a gradually increasing price point. It's kind of like what we went through during the 90's. Once upon a time, all we needed was a joystick and a button, now we need two analog sticks, a directional pad, two triggers, and no less than 6 buttons. You have to do the same gradual "step up" for the casual players today.

    It will take time and creativity, but I believe that the right way to do this is to take popularly known casual games and have them come out with sequels that up the ante on difficulty and price. One way to do it is to have those popular casual games crossover to other genres to expose the player to other types of gameplay. For example, I can picture an RPG version of Angry Birds with all sorts of different attributes for each bird and questing to save their eggs from the Pigs' lair of evil. Yet another way is to adapt games like Infinity Blade to PC or consoles. If you took that game and ported it over, Epic could rework the inputs to a control pad and you would have a good chance of getting the casual crowd that played the game on their phones to download the game on PSN or XBL. Even better, come out with Infinity Blade 3 across all platforms and let people choose.

    That's all I got, but don't expect me to do the video game industry's work for them. I'd rather get paid for that.

    -M

      1. I would like to point out the end of the original Ghostbusters where Egon suggested to Venkman to cross the streams in order to defeat Zuul.

        So, while not crossing the streams is generally the rule of thumb, sometimes you have to break the rule in order to save the world.

        -M

      3. … not yet, but just ask N8 what group of people are best equipped to survive and conquer the zombie apocalypse when the day comes.

        -M

      6. I'm going to redirect that comment to the "what are you playing this weekend" section. Read it and weep.

      7. Why would I weep? I'm proud of u finally accepting and following through on a challenge. Oh I'm getting teary eyed now. Ur growing up right before my eyes *sniff* *sniff*

      8. Your memory is slightly distorted, originally N8R "challenged" me here on a weekend I didn't visit the site and then declared himself the winner because I just so happened to talk to him on xbl and didn't mention the "challenge" that I didn't know about. I then accepted and the rest is history. Oh yeah, you did weep lol.

      13. Yes… I challenged you…. but if you want to get technical, you kinda challenged me by buying the game in the first place. Buying the game is kind of an open invitation.

      14. Everyone knows I'm not high (see that) on competitive multilpayer, SIR. I'd rather work with than against someone, SIR. Like Fable 3 which we need to continue, SIR!

      16. She either needs to get with the program or she doesn't matter. I like you, but your wife is the reason I respect you so I think her mom is with the program, your just a hater and will say anything to get attention.

        Those are all jokes.

      17. The answer is "People who have read and own a copy of the 'Zombie Survival Guide'". Which would be me.

  4. Do casual gamers want to be gaming enthusiasts? I think that the general or the casual gaming population play their games in online services for free like you know, Facebook. I don't think regular people can justify buying a dedicated gaming system but that is changing now with the inclusion of "apps"and social networking. An iPad does more than games and is marketed as such. I haven't seen any recent commercials for the PS3 or 360 that highlight their "other" features.

    Correct me if wrong.

  5. I think these labels are misused honestly. The people who buy yearly releases of Madden or CoD are every much casual gamers as they are enthusiast gamers. Casual in that they stick with tried and true franchises despite other options in the genre. Enthusiast in their dedication to the titles.

    I don't think it's fair to label someone casual or enthusiast anymore. My neighbor plays the ever living hell out of Farmville and will talk your ear off about her farm. I could care less but I don't think that means she's hardcore whereas I'm a casual gamer who plays League of Legends on the weekends only.

    To me the most exciting thing about the mobile gaming growth is that we will be getting content produced by people in other cultures which will invariably lead to different types of story telling and many types of lead characters. I'm so tired of seeing game "journalists" bemoan that most leads are caucasian.

      2. Too soon to tell with either of them. One started for most of an NFL season, the other has started for the last week and a half. Lin's diploma trumps Tebow's life accomplishments.

      3. I think doing missionary work in his offseason in the Philippines is pretty commendable. An education is great but a lot of people that do really stupid things graduate from Ivy league schools lol.I chose Fitzpatrick because he did well for the BIlls until he got paid after a few games this past season. Then they went back to being the bad Bills. Linsanity dropped to my really god awful Hornets. His 9 turnovers really hurt. Then again t he Hornets had a pretty high 3pt% too. Winning a single game in the NFL I think is much more difficult than a single game or string of games in the NBA. Not too mention a post season game haha.

  6. My mother came out for a week earlier this month (flew out Tuesday). I put Netflix on for her on my XBOX 360 and handed her the controller. She started trying to navigate the menus, not even realizing that she was holding the controller upside down (despite the fact the keyboard attachment was on it). I said, "You're holding it upside down," and she flipped it over so that the battery pack was on top. I then sighed heavily, took the controller from her hands and said, "What do you want to watch?"

    She owns a Wii, and uses it without issue. Some people simply can't make the leap to a real console with a real controller.

    That doesn't mean that the industry shouldn't cater to both groups. There's always the potential for crossover, as many hardcore gamers play social or casual games, and some casual gamers are the next batch of hardcore gamers. But this isn't Pokemon: You'll never catch 'em all.

  7. My mother came out for a week earlier this month (flew out Tuesday). I put Netflix on for her on my XBOX 360 and handed her the controller. She started trying to navigate the menus, not even realizing that she was holding the controller upside down (despite the fact the keyboard attachment was on it). I said, "You're holding it upside down," and she flipped it over so that the battery pack was on top. I then sighed heavily, took the controller from her hands and said, "What do you want to watch?"

    She owns a Wii and an iPhone, and uses both with no issues. But giving her an actual controller is like handing her a Rubix Cube and saying solve this WITHOUT taking all the stickers off and reapplying them. Some people can't make the leap.

    And that's okay, the industry can cater to both markets. You'll always have some crossover. Hardcore gamers will play some casual or social games. Some casual gamers will be the next hardcore gamers.

    But this isn't Pokemon: You'll never catch 'em all.

  8. Lin had a horrible first quarter, but he played well the rest of the game, especially the second half. In all honesty, I expect Tebow to have a better career. Lin can't defend one-on-one and it remains to be seen if he can consistently handle the ball. With that in mind, he has owned NY for the last two weeks and energized a franchise that has sucked in the media capital of the world for far too long. Owning NY > owning Denver.

  9. I would say that the transformation from the "casual gamer" to the enthusiast is not something that can be forced. It can be influenced, more likely by friends and family than random people. So game companies cannot change people from "casuals" to enthusiasts. That job is left to the people who know them.

  10. My mother came out for a week earlier this month (flew out Tuesday). I put Netflix on for her on my XBOX 360 and handed her the controller. She started trying to navigate the menus, not even realizing that she was holding the controller upside down (despite the fact the keyboard attachment was on it). I said, "You're holding it upside down," and she flipped it over so that the battery pack was on top. I then sighed heavily, took the controller from her hands and said, "What do you want to watch?"

    Fact is, this isn't Pokemon. You'll never catch 'em all. And that's ok, so long as both segments of the gaming populace (casual and hardcore) are served.

  11. I still think gamers these days and journalists for that matter are too caught up on the the 3 year old definitions of hardcore, enthusiast, casual, and mainstream. The industry is too large to pigeon hole like this.

  12. So final verdict on Twisted Metal is: Its a bust without MP. I don't intend on paying for an online pass on a game I don't own and I don't plan on owning the game until I know I like it or it becomes cheaper. I tried to play the demo the week before it came out but it had expired. WTF. I thought they stopped having them expire, it has been a long time since I have seen a demo run out.

    Going to rent I AM ALIVE today. I hope it is better

      2. I had no idea. I can't remember the last time I played a demo on my consoles. I've done betas on my PC which of course expire.

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