Why Nintendo is Investing in the Casual Gamer

Sep. 30 1:36 PM by Alicia Ashby

Take this article with a grain of salt, folks. I have a hard time believing the hardcore gamer is really excluded in an industry where last week's big event was a nails-hard 8-bit Mega Man title. That said, Forbes is looking at the very real financial implications of the gaming industry's shift from hardcore-focused titles to casual-focused titles.

Nintendo, of course, deserves a lot of the credit for attracting noncore gamers to the industry. While there were a trickle of new players coming into the industry before the Wii hit shelves, that has since turned into a torrent.

"I think [Nintendo] will be the first to tell you they have not expanded gaming households, but they have expanded the number of people in the household who are playing," says Kathy Vrabeck, president of Electronic Arts' Casual Entertainment division. "The core consumer & represents a smaller percentage of users--but the lion's share of the revenue dollars--but the growth is coming from the casual consumer."