fkusumot on 26 February 2008
In May, Ubisoft expanded its casual games division. In June, Electronic Arts launched EA Casual Entertainment. Two months later, it signed a seven-year pact with Hasbro to create digital versions of its properties, including the likes of Nerf, Monopoly, and Scrabble. Take-Two created casual label 2K Play in September. Last November, Majesco Entertainment announced a new casual studio. Kuju Entertainment’s US branch will focus on casual games. Call it the casual gold rush. |
| Despite the sudden success in this arena, casual games aren’t some sparkling new genre. The casual game has existed since “Pong.” The games industry and its non-stop assembly line of World War II shooters simply forgot about everyone except 13- to 30-year-old males. |
| “You can only sell so many products to the same customer,” says Chip Lange, general manager of EA Hasbro Studio. “The games industry has done a good job growing the core customer, but when you start looking at the casual landscape … you’re really looking at everybody.” |
| Of course, there’s more at play than a larger demographic. Publishers don’t want to admit to it, but casual games offer significant financial incentives. Read: They tend to be cheaper to manufacture, hence less risky, than core-focused titles like “Halo 3.” A typical console title costs $10 million to develop and needs to sell 600,000 copies to be considered a success. By contrast, a casual game costs under $1 million and need only sell 100,000 units. |
| Lange notes that the lower development costs of casual games make it easier for competitors to bring their own products to market, and the competitive limits on pricing can put casual games in the same price category as other entertainment options like DVDs or a batch of music downloads. |
Those are some excerpts from the article:
