The casual gamer bubble may have burst, at least according to industry experts Jesse Divnich and Michael Pachter.
The Electronic Entertainment Games and Design and Wedbush Morgan analysts say that the sales figures for the industry in October indicate that the non-hardcore consumer simply isn’t getting hooked, with hardware sales down twenty three percent and software likewise down by a larger than anticipated eighteen percent, and that the failure of casual gamers to continue to purchase new titles is very much the cause. “The lack of sales continues to be driven down by non-traditional and casual gamers who have failed to make follow up purchases,” Divnich says. “We believe it will take the introduction of some new style of game-play or peripheral before we see a resurgence in the casual and non-traditional markets, which is why we strongly believe that Nintendo may launch a successor to the Nintendo DS in late 2010. Additionally, we believe Project Natal will create a resurgence in excitement for motion based gaming, not just among the core market, but casual and non-traditional gamers as well.”
Michael Pachter agrees with this analysis, noting that some former favourites, such as rhythm games like the “DJ Hero” and “Guitar Hero” series, have grown cold this year. “The more mass market titles did not perform as well,” Pachter notes, “with the music genre demonstrating the overall weakness we’ve seen all year.” Software companies look set to try to hold onto their hardcore customers, with Activision CFO Thomas Tippl admitting, “We… see a thicker and more profitable tail developing on our core franchises with our core audience.”
