Electronic Arts Versus Analysts: Casual Games Bad?
Analysts say yes, EA doesn't think so
EA CEO John Riccitiello
Analysts have expressed concern that the current casual games craze may be damaging to the games industry. EA disagrees (as apparently does Nintendo), however, seeing it as a way of bringing more gamers into the core market.
U.B.S. (formerly Union Bank of Switzerland) analyst Ben Schachter has expressed concern that, "There may be a 'casual' glut by 2008," in a report to clients recently.
His comments were mirrored by those of Van Baker, vice president and research director for research firm Gartner, who told Reuters, "Nintendo seems to be the one company that's expanding the gaming market, but there's some cause for concern there because who they're attracting is the casual gamer".
"That's something that someone picks up and does for 15 to 20 minutes and then they put it aside. The question is, in three months or six months, is the Wii going to be sitting in the corner forgotten?" he asked.
EA's CEO, John Riccitiello, disagrees however. Speaking to The Financial Times about EA's recently announced 'Family Mode' for its sports titles on the Wii, Riccitiello said, “We can blend more people into that core [gamer] market if we explore accessibility, we can make adjustments to our game design that will bring more people into the game industry faster.” (If that brings to mind worrying images of gamers in meat grinders, you're not alone).
In fact, he thinks that EA has been boring its audience. “The number of people that find our games and others too hard to initiate and have fun with is legion and it’s a barrier that we’ve erected ourselves,” he said. “In a weird sort of way, we’re worshipping the game-review gods as opposed to thinking about the marketplace and people who might want to buy our products.”
Riccitiello's comments mirror those of Nintendo's Satoru Iwata, who has indicated that Nintendo is increasingly distancing itself from the core gamer.
It seems to SPOnG that the games industry faces a very real danger of splitting itself in half, with the core gamer being catered for by a decreasing list of games developers. Is the core gamer under fire? Answers in the Forum, please.
U.B.S. (formerly Union Bank of Switzerland) analyst Ben Schachter has expressed concern that, "There may be a 'casual' glut by 2008," in a report to clients recently.
His comments were mirrored by those of Van Baker, vice president and research director for research firm Gartner, who told Reuters, "Nintendo seems to be the one company that's expanding the gaming market, but there's some cause for concern there because who they're attracting is the casual gamer".
"That's something that someone picks up and does for 15 to 20 minutes and then they put it aside. The question is, in three months or six months, is the Wii going to be sitting in the corner forgotten?" he asked.
EA's CEO, John Riccitiello, disagrees however. Speaking to The Financial Times about EA's recently announced 'Family Mode' for its sports titles on the Wii, Riccitiello said, “We can blend more people into that core [gamer] market if we explore accessibility, we can make adjustments to our game design that will bring more people into the game industry faster.” (If that brings to mind worrying images of gamers in meat grinders, you're not alone).
In fact, he thinks that EA has been boring its audience. “The number of people that find our games and others too hard to initiate and have fun with is legion and it’s a barrier that we’ve erected ourselves,” he said. “In a weird sort of way, we’re worshipping the game-review gods as opposed to thinking about the marketplace and people who might want to buy our products.”
Riccitiello's comments mirror those of Nintendo's Satoru Iwata, who has indicated that Nintendo is increasingly distancing itself from the core gamer.
It seems to SPOnG that the games industry faces a very real danger of splitting itself in half, with the core gamer being catered for by a decreasing list of games developers. Is the core gamer under fire? Answers in the Forum, please.
Companies:
Electronic Arts
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Comments
king skins 16 Jul 2007 13:19
1/3
Its a good point but I don't think its going to hurt the industry unless you sell your console at a loss, which nintendo don't. But I don't think its gonna bring that much to it either.
But I don't think the Casual audience is going to spend that much money on games. So you might get a lot more people in, but they are going to be spending a lot less and buy a lot less games.
But I don't think the Casual audience is going to spend that much money on games. So you might get a lot more people in, but they are going to be spending a lot less and buy a lot less games.
YenRug 16 Jul 2007 14:11
2/3
I think this kind of ties in with Iwata's talk about surpassing the 100 million PS2's sold (though in the Wii's case, that's more likely to be made up of machines in use, rather than replacements ;).
Imagine these sorts of numbers:
Casual market -> 100M Consoles x 2 games bought per year = 200M Game sales
Hardcore market -> 20M Consoles x 10 games bought per year = 200M Game sales
Overall, you have pretty much the same amount of games sold each year but to a company like Nintendo, who make a profit on each console sold (not forgetting extra controllers, etc), the former is more appealling. Meanwhile, Sony and MS mainly make a loss on their systems so they prefer the hardcore market outlook, because they make their money back on the games sold.
In this model, you don't need to sell a huge amount of games to each console owner, you go for market breadth. Sony achieved this, somewhat, with the PS2, but they're reverting back to the limited system adoption for the PS3, simply because their pricing makes mass-market penetration a lot, lot harder. In fact, with the estimated losses on each PS3 sold, they can't afford to go mass market in the near future.
Imagine these sorts of numbers:
Casual market -> 100M Consoles x 2 games bought per year = 200M Game sales
Hardcore market -> 20M Consoles x 10 games bought per year = 200M Game sales
Overall, you have pretty much the same amount of games sold each year but to a company like Nintendo, who make a profit on each console sold (not forgetting extra controllers, etc), the former is more appealling. Meanwhile, Sony and MS mainly make a loss on their systems so they prefer the hardcore market outlook, because they make their money back on the games sold.
In this model, you don't need to sell a huge amount of games to each console owner, you go for market breadth. Sony achieved this, somewhat, with the PS2, but they're reverting back to the limited system adoption for the PS3, simply because their pricing makes mass-market penetration a lot, lot harder. In fact, with the estimated losses on each PS3 sold, they can't afford to go mass market in the near future.
Joji 16 Jul 2007 16:13
3/3
I can understand analysts worries, as they are in synch with my own. I've said before I'm all for growing the market that would otherwise shrink under me too games but at what cost? I've decided to place my money on Nintendo.
Implode or explode, Nintendo must be very careful not to destroy everything they have spent years building.
Analysts, who are they? Still, even they or the mighty Nintendo can both be wrong.
Implode or explode, Nintendo must be very careful not to destroy everything they have spent years building.
Analysts, who are they? Still, even they or the mighty Nintendo can both be wrong.