http://gamasutra.com/view/news/187186/PlayStation_bets_the_farm_that_true_gamers_are_enough_to_sell_its_new_machine.php#.USf-a6XvuuI

This article talks about a recent interview with Tretton and how Sony is going to rely on the core gamers for their business.

Tretton's basic premise:

Core gamers are the blood of the industry, and they will always want the best tech. There are more gamers than ever, and they continue to go "up the gaming stream" to more complex video game experiences,and Sony will capitalize on this.

Gamasutra's basic idea:

Core gamers are not enough, retail is dying, and mobile (not to mention PC mostly in terms of F2P) is growing extremely quickly. Dedicated hardware focusing on the core gamer is asking for death.

Is Gamasutra being biased (since they are very indie-developer focused in many of their viewpoints)? Or is Sony oblivious to the market conditions?

And not just Sony... Nintendo is doing the same thing. Out of all of them, it seems that Microsoft is taking the most steps to capture the casual gamer at this point - and we're not even sure how true that is until we see the NextBox. 

And what about digital? We still don't have any solid numbers on digital sales throughout the industry (for PC, handhelds, and consoles), only rough estimates by NPD. Is the core market not so gloomy when you take this into consideration?

Or is our traditional view of core gaming destined to become more and more niche as gaming continues to expand?

They can't just focus on the core that Tretton want. They need to convey the message that this console is fit for everyone. Not sure if they'll try to do that though.

Now Sony themselves say they are going to focus on core gamers and somehow that's a bad thing?

I'm waiting for Sony to create a cure for cancer so I can start reading articles about how it's unethical to intervene with natures way of thinning the population and Sony just wants to play god because they have giant egos. Oh and they hate freedom too, just because.

Obviously they want everyone to buy their systems, but putting core gamers first is the best mentality they can have.

clearly not.. they don't even buy Sony's first party offerings..
Core gamers = overrated bunch of whiners with lousy excuses for not buying a game

PS1 says yes

Wow, you just insulted pretty much everyone who comes to this website.  Nice.

im a core gamer and i didnt play anything since mario galaxy :D

but i do play some counter strike 1.6 OUYEAH!

Yeah, that would be the PC Gamers.

No, the core gamer isn't enough to support a system. But you can't appeal to the casual until there are enough core gamer supporting your system. If you lets say, focus on Kinect as the main selling point for the next XBox, you risk alienating the core gamer. This core gamer might end up buying the PS4.

Relying on core gamers love of powerful hardware helped kill sony's marketshare, give Microsoft a foothold in the market and handed Nintendo monstrous profits. Naturally, Sony doubles down on this strategy.