The following is an opinion piece and is entirely written by myself and only myself.
If you guys want my credentials I'm currently an advertising student in college.


Why should a game company even bother making games for the hardcore audience, any company for that fact, why should Nintendo, Sony Computer Entertainment, Capcom, Ubisoft, Microsoft Game Studios, Activision / Blizzard, Electronic Arts and everyone in between even bother with making games for the so called 'hardcore' gamer? Now before you nail me to the cross and call me a witch, know that I am a 'core' gamer, I love my difficult, complicated, story driven, brutal games that take upwards of 50 hours to complete and another 50 hours to reach 100% completion. these are my games and I love every second of it.

But the point I am bringing is why do the hardcore DEMAND that the various game developing giants make and ONLY make hardcore games? The second a Nintendo announces Wii Music or a Ubisoft releases the next entry in the Pets series these so called core gamers are up in arms about how 'they abandoned their loyal fans' or 'they have gone kiddy and are now making games only for babies'. Well last I checked Nintendo still makes 'core' games and so does Ubisoft so these two crybaby arguments go out the window right away. 

The principal reason any game company is still around in this business is simple, you have to make the masses happy. Nintendo (one of many possible examples) understands this. Their titles like Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Fit, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Mario Kart Wii to name but a few are designed to be enjoyed by the MAJORITY of gamers, (a brief glance at their sales is a clear indication) and that's the point I want to bring.
Core gamers are not the majority, they never have been and never will be. Core gamers (like myself and most of this sites population) are a niche. And a golden rule of branding is that a company who caters to the niche will never reach the top levels of it's particular business. Look around you examples of this are everywhere, a well established restaurant serving only vegetarian food will never be as successful as an equally well established restaurant that serves all kinds of food. And that's the problem core gamers can't get in their heads, that they are not the majority, that they SHOULD not demand anything from these companies, their lucky they get anything at all.

The core gamer is not the heart of the gaming business, it is the masses. It's a simple business rule, if your market is 100 people large, and only 20 of those people are 'core' gamers, then it is logical to spend more resources selling products to the other 80 people.

So why would all these game companies make games for a small niche? Well some would make the argument that even if the core gamer is a small niche market, it's still a market and should be serviced. And yes I agree, if their is a market their will be somebody to make a product that that market will buy. But for the core gamers to DEMAND that their favorite company make games just for them is simply arrogant, they dont have to, they dont need to.

Look at the movie industry, what sells is not the edgy, thought heavy and deep movie but the Hollywood fluff that caters to the mass. Same for music, same for books, same for all forms of entertainment, including video games.

In conclusion, the core gamer is a market across all platforms, Wii, DS, PSP, PS3, X360, PC, IPod whatever, but on ALL those platforms the core gamer is NOT THE MAJORITY, the masses are the ones who one all these platforms in large numbers which leads me to wonder why game companies even bother to make so many games to cater to the core niche.

So what do you think?

It's not like core games don't appeal to the masses.

Why do companies even make core games?

how many "dude where is my car"
"ten things i hate about you"
movies you can see?

someone must make a lord of the rings/avatar/memento/matrix
with bigger budgets and overall quality.

and yes many play wii fit but not all.

and even if god of war3 sells lower than wii sports what that means?
sony(for example) whould stop make that games and make casual titles?
no they would make both(wand games)
and ms also(natal)

just caus nintendo only makes only casual games doesnt mean eveyone should.
N just jumped massively in the niche,but the rest will follow.
and when on your system you have casual and core many will crossshop while in the wii they only get casual thats why the perchentages are more.

and btw you overestimate wiisports sales that are BUNDLED with the wii :):)

ubisoft said today its games dont sell on the wii

sega some days before

capcom would make less and with better quality(not casuals?)

Well one because I think there is a difference between "hardcore" gamers and core games. I've always seen the hardcore gamers as those who rose during PS2 generation and more notably the 360 era. They see gaming for what has been during that time and think only certain kinds of games are for them and that's what it should be. Also thanks to the internet they are pretty vocal about it and flood the forums. Therefore they want the action games with shock value in them.

Now when it comes to core gamers, I see these as your old school gamers. They very much so are a niche gaming community and like the games you were kinda describing.

However the "hardcore" gaming community you were talking about could be essentially associated with any mainstream gaming userbase you think about. They are your Madden, FIFA, Call of Duty, Cabela, and even Mario and Wii Fit gamers. They define the mainstream. They buy what's popular and what's big. Just sometimes they like to make a split in there by those who buy the more gory ones and those who don't. And then they are pretty zenophobic about the new gamers coming in.



The point is gaming is being split way too much by these factions and unfortunately the media is driving it. Retailers and publishers are also using it for good PR from those user bases. And I think amidst all of it, core gamers like a few of us in here, are kinda getting pushed aside from it because we aren't many anymore. I still blame the internet for most of this because there is no justice on the internet... only illogical opinions with a few logical ones mixed in. It tends to polarize the factions and that's what we are left with now.


Maybe soon we can all set aside our differences and just call ourselves gamers but I doubt will happen. Everyone just has to be an elitist it seems and think their gaming preferences are better than others.

Companies should make games for people that doesn't own their products?

Companies should avoid making games the console owners like?

Games aren't $10 dollars, and core titles sell way more than casuals games on the HD consoles.

guys dont confuse 'casual' gamers with 'mainstream' gamers

Call Of Duty is a mainstream game for example

There's too much to address, but as per your "abandoning the hardcorez" with wiimusic. People get upset when they see that a certain game they want to get made gets replaced with something they have no interest in whatsoever.
It's not like a dev can just make two games. One game must suffer, like in the case of Eyepet vs 8days.

You're forgetting that that 20% of the gaming population (using your imagined figures) buys a disporportionately large percentage of the games.

All in all, I'd guess that 20% cores spending is roughly equal to the spending of the other 80%.

There's definite reason to cater to that market, plus it's easy. They'll buy the same damn game over and over and over and over again. Just up the graphics, tweek the gameplay, slap an incrementally higher number on it and BAM! you got sales! Or ape what someone else is doing, put a novel twist to it and bam! sales (just not as great).

The mass market is fickle and trendy. Few publishers understand their tastes. Most that do aren't making console games. They make phone, iphone, flash, social games where the mass market is (pretty much) the only market and they have to understand them. Originality and addictive gameplay is king here. No complicated controls, no big story, graphics not that important, but quick, easy, addictive fun.

what's a core game then?

Yes, core games can appeal to the masses.

But it's all too often that the point of entry carries a barrier that prevents certain games from being accepted.  Look at the ones with LONG cutscenes, the ones with walls of text, and the ones with gameplay mechanics that only those familar with the franchise/genre for the ones don't reach mainstream appeal.