| RolStoppable said: It's pretty obvious that Nintendo was never going to abandon the core gamer market. They already released sequels to quite a lot of their most popular franchises within the first year of the Wii's lifespan. These franchises are the core of the videogame market, they are around since 15+ years. The current "hardcore" gamers are people who grew up on Madden, GTA, Halo, Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy (since VII) and such games. Most of these "hardcore" won't accept and play what Nintendo offers, so it would be wasted effort from Nintendo to make games that appeal to these "hardcore" (these people don't like the "genre" Nintendo games). Besides, they aren't really an as important group for the market as they think. If they were, they would be able to support 3rd parties enough, so that they would actually post profits. Core gamers (the people who don't restrict themselves to only a couple or a handful of genres) are much more important for Nintendo (and 3rd parties), they buy games from all genres and they buy a lot of games. That's why Nintendo will never abandon them and that's why Nintendo has already released sequels to a lot of their core games for the Wii (and more are in the works alongside with new IPs). |
I agree with you that, yes, it may be obvious that Nintendo had never planned (nor has no plans) to abandon the core gamer market. I do, however, believe that concern of the gaming market as a whole making the switch is a valid one and is, indeed, worth considering a possibility that none of us, of any fanicity (I made that up) would be entirely pleased with.
I would say this situation could be analogous to music. Take both metal an rap. Both started out as very niche markets, both were quite high in quality in their 'younger' years as well. After hitting the mainstream, they degraded in quality but became more profitable and popular than ever before.
So when the 'hardcore' claim that nintendo is killing the industry (which I disagree with, by the way- I would say that this revolution, if you will, is! Nintendo games, for the most part, still kick ass), they do not mean that in terms of quantity (because as we are seeing the casual games seem to be more profitable) but that the standard of quality that was once needed to be a successful game is lowering. And that is something that should be of major concern to anyone who calls themself a gamer.
@ Happy Squrriel
I also hate both terms, 'hardcore' and 'casual'. But there is no doubt that there is indeed something needed to distinguish between the different types of gamers. If you look at most words, there is so much ambiguity with them. The word racism means completely different things to a person growing up in a white community than to a black kid growing up in Compton, but yet, it is a term we use often.
Everyone has their stereotypes. Take Rolstoppable for example. He claims that the current group of self-proclaimed 'hardcore gamers' are those "who grew up on Madden, GTA, Halo, Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy (since VII) and such games". Funny, I would consider myself hardcore, but I grew up with Mario, Final Fantasy (NES, SNES) and Zelda, and I still enjoy the 'Nintendo genre'. Kinda hypocritical that he would attempt to blast those for categorizing themselves by categorizing them, don't ya think? But, of course, my definition of 'hardcore gamer' would be the same as his 'core gamer'.... only, uhh, harder! (kidding
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But the point being that, these terms exist for a reason. But I would say that the term 'hardcore gamer' is a much more accurate and less ambiguous term than 'hardcore game', as both types gamers, casual and hardcore, are quite capable and likely (if they are not fanboys) to enjoy any game, if it is fun.
