First off, the most important thing: "Hardcore games" in this post refers simply to traditional genres, so games and series that have been around already before this generation of consoles.
As most of you know, there are a lot of hardcore games being released for the PS3 and 360. The problem is that most of those games aren't making money because of the drastically increased development costs compared to last generation. Hardcore games aren't a sustainable business anymore, like they used to be in the past. However, the solution for most third party publishers has been to use the profits of cheaply made Wii and DS games to fund HD projects. So everything is okay, one might think.
But the new problem that occurs is that the new audience (from here on out refered to as casuals) who is buying Wiis and DSes is said to be very unstable. When will they get bored of gaming? How many games do they even buy in the first place? When will the Wii bubble burst?
The truth is that the future of hardcore gaming is entirely dependent on those casuals. If they stop buying the cash-ins of third party publishers, they are initiating a chain reaction that is going to take down hardcore gaming. The only company left standing to deliver hardcore games could be Nintendo as they wouldn't be affected by people who stop gaming. They would make less money, yes. But they still have the funds to continue to make games, because they are making money off of everyone who buys their products, not just the casuals.
IF hardcore gaming is going down the shutter, Sony and Microsoft are to blame. Due to the enormous development budgets needed for HD games, the future of hardcore gaming lies with the wallets of casuals, because the majority of third party publishers can't generate profits with their hardcore games on the HD consoles.
Let us all pray that the Wii bubble doesn't burst.
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