First of all, we're a sales site. Let's stop talking with made-up demographics like "casual" and "hardcore," and use more specific terms like "young boys," "teenaged girls," or "seniors," for example.
In the past, the industry has focused mostly on males between the ages of 6-30. In the NES era, it was more 6-16, today its more 14-30. Occasionally games have come along to appeal to different demographics, but let me ask you Legend11: where were the follow up titles to Duck Hunt? I don't mean the next light-gun game, I mean the next title providing a totally new experience designed to appeal to your parents. Nintendo followed up Super Mario Bros. with totally different experiences for the same young male audience with Zelda, Metroid and Kid Icarus, while third parties brought Mega Man, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. All these games were for young males, and so were Sonic, Street Fighter and Donkey Kong Country in the next generation. When the industry abandons an audience, of course that audience stops gaming.
"[Our former customers] are unable to find software which they WANT to play."
"The way to solve this problem lies in how to communicate what kind of games [they CAN play]."
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo President. Only slightly paraphrased.
