Casual gaming: The future or just a stepping stone?

Since the phenomenal success of both the DS and Nintendo Wii, the casual market has become the unofficial Holy Grail for potential future market growth. While Nintendo ride the lazily rendered wave of party game popularity, Sony and Microsoft are busy developing and advancing their own family-centric collections of videogame software and accessories.

With each of the big three eager to get their slice of the proverbial pie, one has to ask whether it’s worth the effort and whether some companies, namely Nintendo, are pushing what could essentially turn out to be a fad far too hard.

The fact of the matter is, you can’t blame Sony and Microsoft for attempting to push the family friendly credentials of their respective consoles, as for the time being at least, that is the exact approach that is seeing the Nintendo Wii and DS outsell the competition across every major territory.

While this all bodes extremely well for Nintendo in the current market, the difference in each companies approach to the casual boom could well have a major effect on potential sales of future consoles. While Sony and Microsoft both have a varied and distinguished back catalogue of games to fall back on if the casual gaming bubble were to burst, Nintendo seem to be less and less interested in catering to long time followers and undecided punters from the traditionally core gaming market.

Although I won’t be naïve enough to suggest that Nintendo is no longer committed to producing traditional games of the highest quality, they are in danger of alienating both their long time followers along with the core 18 – 30yr old male market via a release schedule filled to the brim with little more than, dare I say, gimmicky peripherals and often rushed, overly simplistic party games.

If there was any doubt as to Nintendo’s current approach to the videogame market, one has to only look as far as Nintendo’s press conference at this year’s E3. Ok, so we expected the Mii-friendly games en masse, but for the Nintendo faithful, head of Nintendo of America, Reggie Fils-Aime’s suggestion that the Nintendo hardcore should be more than pleased with the announcements for Animal Crossing, Mario Sluggers and GTA DS will feel like brutal kick to the crotch. Is this quote nothing more than a PR cover up for a presentation clearly lacking in quality, or is it a more worrying sign of Nintendo’s dwindling relationship with those who have stuck with the company through thick and thin?

For all this negative talk however, Nintendo are still in an incredibly strong position at the moment, the question is, have they set themselves a strong enough platform for the future? While Nintendo seem intent on making games for non-gamers, Microsoft and Sony would probably do well to carry on trying to turn non-gamers into gamers. When those picking up a Wii for the first time get a taste for games, will it be Nintendo, or will it be Sony and Microsoft they look too when their tastes mature beyond the simple pleasures of ‘waggling’ the remote and basic mini-games? Is casual gaming the future, or is it merely a stepping stone towards traditional gaming expanding to an even wider audience?