Downloadable, Casual Games Gain Momentum
RealNetworks has reported that their downloadable game sales have increased 28% over the same quarter last year, clocking in at... get this... just shy of $24 million during Q1 2007.

Multiply that by 4 quarters in a year (an inaccurate assessment, of course, but fine for noodling purposes), and you can get the idea that this one company is single-handedly busting the whole "PC Games Are Dead" myth. Okay, so they aren't selling the traditional hard-core games that we all know and love from PC gaming's golden age. But that's a number to make anybody sit up and take notice!

Also, Big Fish Games, probably Real's closest competitor on the casual-game-portal front, just announced that it is receiving the Red Herring 100 award, an award honoring the top 100 private technology companies in North America. So they're getting noticed in their own way in the business community.

Now, I really do enjoy a few casual games... like Virtual Villagers: A New Home and Virtual Villagers 2: The Lost Children, and Aveyond and Cute Knight have both found a home with the casual audience. But I don't consider myself a casual gamer. The games I spend the most time with tend to be more hardcore RPGs, RTSs, Sims, what have you. So what does this mean to me?

#1 - The gaming landscape is divesifying. This is a Good Thing.

#2 - From a mindset perspective, we're overdue for scooting over and making room for the casual gamers. Some hardcore gamers don't consider casual games to be "real" games. Get over yourselves. They are here to stay, and we may as well get used to it and enjoy the fact that Mom is finally beginning to "get" videogames.

#3 - Digital distribution, as opposed to physical media, is rapidly gaining acceptance. I gotta admit, I will miss the boxes. I still have a collection of some of my favorites - with the cool bonuses like the cloth maps (I mourn your passing, Ultima) and the exceptionally cool manuals. But hey, it's a new era.

#4 - Watch out for the casual gaming portals making more moves to solidify their power and become the next EA. While some of it irks me, biz is biz, and it's just the way of things. The ol' wheel keeps on turning.

#5 - The PC continues to claw back some mindshare (particularly among adults) as a GAMING SYSTEM.


(Vaguely) related casual conversation...
* Why the PC Game Industry Figures Are Baloney
* The Casual Game Industry Sucks Too
* The Casual Games Industry Sucks, Two!
* The Return of the Villagers: Virtual Villagers 2 The Lost Children
* I'm a Gamer?

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Labels: Biz, casual games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 7:14 AM (Permalink)