Back during the seventh generation of gaming, there was a lot of hype surrounding the phenomenons of "Hardcore" gaming on systems like PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and "Casual" gaming such as from Nintendo's popular Wii system.

These two terms were constantly thrown around by gaming journalists and forum dwellers, yet rarely were these terms defined in any coherent way. From what was described though, "Hardcore" gaming involved cutting edge, HD graphics, robust online multiplayer features, games with mature content and adult themes and standard dual analog stick controls. "Casual" gaming meanwhile, involved family-friendly games that were not very deep, easy to play, designed around local multiplayer, and used "waggle" motion controls.

And there was a clear dichotomy of the two in the seventh and even early eighth generations. Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed were seen as "Hardcore", while Wii Sports and Angry Birds were "Casual". 

That's what the industry seemed like at the time, and among professional gaming media and journalists, "Hardcore gaming" was seen as superior. Fast forward to today, and the gaming landscape is nothing like what it is today. These days, hardly anybody throws around the terms "Hardcore" and "Casual" any more, and a lot of the most popular games of the modern era are games that anybody, regardless of skill level or experience, can pick up and enjoy.

Nintendo was often derided for being the "casual" console during the seventh generation with the Wii thanks to the popularity of the "Wii" series games. Yet, looking at the Nintendo Switch, many of the best selling games on the console are games that don't fit neatly into those two definitions. Mario Kart for example, nobody thinks of it as a "Hardcore" game or a "Casual" game. It's just... a game. It's one of those games that anybody, from experienced gamers, to newbies can pick up, learn, and have a good time with.

And even other games, Minecraft, Fortnite, Among Us. Are these "Casual" games or "Hardcore" games? The current gaming landscape is way too large and too broad to box games into two neat boxes. And I think rise of indie developers, as well as the resurgence of Japanese game companies, have both broke down those terms.

thank goodness.

What I've found out is we, who believed ourselves hard-core weren't hard-core. The Hard-core are the extreme edge of the pile doing 3000+ hours a year which is over one third of their day gaming. Most people who think they are hard-core are in the middle doing numbers like an average of 2 or 3 hours a day, max 4. The more I try to min max my time and get in as much gaming as possible the more I see that the hard-core have a problem, they are drug addicted to video games and it's probably really bad for them, possibly even life destroying or bordering on it.

Bilut to answer the OP, anyone can make anything Hard-core, I never tire of Sekiro, I could play that game from morning till night and just up the goals and challenges imposed on myself and forget about everything else in the world but I could also do the same with fitness, I've done it for a few years and both of these scenarios aren't fun or a positive thing at all. Making your day all about fitness and ordering everything around that right down to meals that you don't enjoy, fitness being something that is extremely positive but taken to an extreme degree is just another severe addiction. And like that anyone can make the most casual looking game hard-core, look at the Stardew valley players or Minecraft builders, they make people in E sports look like casuals. 

Lol go on PoE2 Reddit and hardcore vs casual is still very much alive! I bet it's the same for any competitive game.
Hardcore are the 24/7 players gatekeeping against casuals wanting to play the end game as well.

But yeah console wise, the switch took it to handheld vs console rather than hardcore vs casual console.

Hardcore vs Casual has indeed become more of a time grind thing.

Its more of a old and outdated viewset by a minority number of gamers.

These days any game can be played casually or in a "hardcore" sense.

Hardcore vs. casual was always a dumb designation. That is because a lot of games don't neatly fit into hardcore vs. casual. You actually could describe players as hardcore or casual (i.e. top 30% in time or money invested being hardcore). However, that designation doesn't make sense for games. For example is World of Warcraft hardcore or casual? A person could reasonably argue either.

No, they certainly havent. But I do see them used less frequently. A "Hardcore gamer" nowadays is just a completionists, thats really all it means now.

I think the lines are blurred, making a blanket statement that you are a "hardcore" or this person is a "casual" is a disservice as it's more nuanced. For example I'm pretty "hardcore" consumer of fighting games. Having clocked 1000 plus hours in them, being within the culture and or searching up anything about them from history/art. But I'm a super "casual" when it comes to hero shooters/FPS games, I'm terrible and don't really engage with them, but I'll sometimes play one for fun casually every now and then. Games are more accessible more then ever now a days and game devs want sales for anyone to enter. Games like Ghost of Tsushima, Zelda, Gears of War are very easy and accessible games for anyone to enjoy. They can play with it in any manner from a completionist/ min max way or for another to play it to roll credits and be satisfied with out anything else. I don't think being hardcore or casual into anything is a bad thing, its just people tend to give them a misplaced negative connotation. That mind set needs to go.

Yes, they have. Same with kiddy/mature. It seems Gen Z, for whatever reason, moved away from the concept of Mario Kart being for kids, and Resident Evil being for adults.