Nintendo basically says, "There is no mafia."

[bdbdbd]

greenmedic88 said:
1. Almost no non-gamers will buy 8 games a year. That's closer to the buying habits of a core gamer. Price of the games due to peripherals is irrelevant (ie. one purchase of Rock Band plus an extra guitar does not = 4 games sold/bought).

2. If he continues to buy that many games a year or more, but doesn't play them, he's still a casual gamer, but this is pretty atypical. I would imagine he'll either buy far less games in the future if he doesn't play much, or he'll eventually morph into a core gamer who spends time in proportion to the amount of money he spends on games.

3. Console makers generally don't expect non-core gamers to buy that many games over the life time of the console. 3-4 is more realistic. 5-6 is not unusual.

4. Some refer to games like DDR, GH and RB as "casual" games, but they really aren't, any more than they are "hard core" games. They essentially fall into all categories of gamers which is why they are particularly big payoff titles for developers. Brawl and Kart actually fall into this category as well. Despite what anyone says about them being "hard core" the play mechanics are simple enough that anyone at a party can pick them up and have fun within minutes.

5. While there isn't any single definition for the "casual" demographic, buying habits, presumably linked to playing habits, over the lifetime ownership of the console are generally the best indicator.

The rare exception doesn't really disprove anything. Someone who buys a Wii and a dozen games for Christmas (for those in the upper income tax bracket) and then maybe buys one or two more games over the lifetime of the console is still a casual gamer.

6. A core gamer might buy as few as 8 games a year, but will likely do so every year until a new console replaces it. Other core gamers may buy at least one game a month, per console, many of which will own three or more consoles.

I've bought about 40 current gen console games over about a 17 month period (plus the older last gen games) and until I started spending more time gaming (due to all the good games on three good consoles) and less time watching TV or movies, I had considered myself more of a casual gamer as someone who used to work in industry and practically played games for a living in addition to playing them regularly during my off time.

Even back during the 6th gen, I only bought a PS2, but by the time the PS3 rolled out, I had bought over 50 PS2 games, most of which weren't played for more than a few hours. Less free time spread over other pursuits at the time made me a seldom gamer, often going weeks or even months between playing a game.

So I was a casual player who still had the buying habits of a core gamer. But very few casual gamers are former developer/hardcore gamers, so they really don't count.

7. By large, the typical casual gamer is either a first time console buyer, or someone who buys one console per generation (often late into the cycle when they are cheaper and there is a big back catalog of games) and doesn't buy games with any sort of regularity or regularly follow any sort of gaming press/news.

1. Yes. You're right. If you play games, it's just impossible to be a non-gamer. And as you pointed out, we are talking about a core gamer in that matter. 2. Again, that's correct. Although, he doesn't seem to be a "casual" gamer. 3. This is where things are getting interesting. What may be the cause? 4. This is where you point out that "casual games" do not exist. Count Brain Training and Wii Fit in. Both are easy to pick up and still offer a lot to do even for the most demanding gamer. 5. This is where you're off. Although core gamers defines as the group that buys the most games, meaning that it changes constantly, this group gets bored easilly. They don't have a lot of games beaten, but buy a new one when they find new interesting game that they play, until the next arrives. 6. Buys only if there are interesting games available. You could call the core gamer a "red ocean" gamer, since this system makes itself happen. A game gets popular, developers start making similar games, the genre gets popular, developers make even more games until most of the games in the market fits the genre and the market saturates, when different games start to devour each others sales. And this doesn't relate to any specific genre, since it changes along with the games that are being bought. 7. The typical "casual" gamer is the type of gamer, to who the market doesn't cater. Just look at Singstar, Guitar Hero, DDR, Brain Training, all of them were games for the "casuals" or the non-gamers, but all of them have had extremely successful sequels. And surprise, suddenly they all are core games just because they are the type of games the industry relies in. Which means that the new audience buys games just like the old audience, when there's games that interests them.