People are missing the point:

The number of hardcore games has NOT changed - there are just as many as there used to be (if not more), and they are a lot better than they used to be.

The change is that there are a LOT more games out in general (like 10x as many as before). And the only way this will work in the market, is if these other games are *different*.

...

Give it a few years, and I think you'll see the quality of casual games rise significantly. Its only been a few years - give it another 5, and I think you'll be surprised what happens.

Just when I thought there could be a reasonable wii fan, here comes the usual posts and maelstrom comments. Blah.

As my father mutters every time he sees me, "life is full of disappointments."

I really don't see the point of all the whining.

Yeah, pretty sad.. :(

I get you. The hardcore were always outnumbered, but it's only nw becoming aparent.

The last generation provides a good example - there were roughly at least ~70m PS2 owners who never felt the need to purchase an Xbox or GC. That number isn't precise, but it's undoubtedly a good deal higher than the combined number those systems sold, less than 50m.

Now, does a one-console gamer fit your mental picture of a "hardcore gamer?" Not mine, for sure. I don't see myself as a hardcore gamer, but I own two of the current-generation consoles, and we started less than three years ago.  I owned all three last gen.

It would help if we had better information (i.e., we know that roughly 165 million consoles were sold, but how much overlap is there?), but any way you crunch the numbers single-console owners were the plurality, and probably the majority. The maximum number of three-console owners last gen is defined the ~22m the GC sold. The max number of two-console owners is ~25m, the Xbox's number. They're dwarfed by the minimum number of single-console owners. There were 3 to 3.5x as many minimum single-console gamers as there were maximum two or three-console gamers.

Even if you don't accept the definitions as precise (and they're not - there were almost certainly single-console hardcore gamers), they do have illustrative value. The hardcore utopia that is fondly remembered was a fantasy. But because the hardcore, mainstream, and casual all favored the same console in previous generations, the illusion of hardcore supremacy was maintained.

The "shift " in the industry is a shift of perception, not of reality. For that reason, all the fear and recriminations are pointless. The number of games aimed at the hardcore isn't going to shrink, because the number of hardcore gamers hasn't shrunk. Any rise in casual or mainstream gamers won't change a damned thing, because along with an expanded audience comes expanded revenue. As we've seen, there's no reason you need to shift resources away from one sector to concentrate on another, as long you're growing.

@Desroko: There's some data about console ownership overlap (for USA):

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18107

"Finally, NPD says only three percent of respondents said they owned two of the three next-gen consoles, and only 2 percent said they owned all three."

However, I'm not sure that's really the data you should look at... One console is often more than enough to keep one busy.

Good God man, get ahold of yourself.

Nobody likes to whine about things they like. Internet whining is the equivelant of faux outrage. People do it to passive-agressively hurt another product by pretending that they, and others should no longer enjoy it due to whatever the latest internet trend is.

The winds have changed. You can either change with them, or no longer consider yourself a gamer in the modern age, sir.

No one likes to share, however, that doesn't make your "I hate to share, and I shouldn't be ashamed to fight not to" post any less horrible.

You're a human, I get it. I'm sure casuals hate to share with you. Just because you were here first, doesn't mean you have a greater right to the first drink.

I was here before Madden, yet it still manages to classify as a "big hardcore game" and take up a ton of development that should go elsewhere.

Cowards, the lot of you. Chin up and face the fire man. Die with a bit of dignity.

Don't die crying on the ground in muddy urine soaked rags. No one likes whining, and it only serves to boost your enemies morale, so for god sakes, be a soldier, not a coward.

If our intelligent posters spent half the time whining that they spend owning whining n00bs, imagine the state this forum would be in. Imagine kotaku commentary.

I've seen that data. I have two problems:

1. It doesn't pas the smell test. I'd like to see their methodology.
2. Even if the number is correct or close to it, it's early yet. Less than three years and a little over 60m consoles sold - the number could change.

If I could get data on last generation, that would help. And as I mentioned, there are undoubtedly single-console hardcore gamers. We call 'em fanboys. What's needed is some sort of demographic profile, which I'm sure NPD or one of the analysts have created.

For those nintendo fans who fail to see the problems casuals bring to the industry, I remember reading an article where Miyamoto said it took a third of the team used to develop Zelda for the wii to develop wii fit. It also took much less time. Without a doubt, wii fit would eventually rake in way more profits than Zelda. Do you see where this is heading? What do you think the shareholders would want from Miyamoto next? Another Zelda or a more advanced wii fit? Corporate greed is everywhere. You may fail to see any fault in anything nintendo has done but even they would further sponsor this demographic shift by capitalizing on the ridiculous profits from licensing Dogz and Catz. I remember back in the day when the nintendo fans used to praise nintendo and condemn Sony because of nintendo's seal of approval that every game had to meet. Whatever happened to that?