Core games hit new heights, so why do they feel threatened?

Fans of traditional, "core" games are often extremely hostile towards the new wave of casual and mobile titles, and even towards the people who play them. They're keen to draw a line in the sand between these titles and "real" games and quick to portray players of Farmville, Candy Crush Saga or Puzzle & Dragons as mindless consumers of low-grade, repetitive entertainment that's utterly disconnected from and disrespectful of gaming culture and the medium's development as a form of art and entertainment.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

I'm a hardcore gamer who enjoys excruciatingly difficult games and casual faire. Deal with it world. Deal with it hard.

Honestly though, I've grown disgusted with the whole battle between the so called "core gamers" and the rest of the world, to the point where I will rarely admit being a "core" gamer myself.

Most of these so called "hardcore" gamers hate everything, lead joyless lives, spend their time reading sales charts only for the sake of reinforcing their own personal bias, create little "hate names" for people and products they don't like, and spend more time posting online then they do playing games.

So called "casuals" just play games.

[Retroman]

im a bonafide casual gamer has been since NES. the problem i feel currently core game's to much these days and casual gamers feel left out of their favorite games. you have Battlefield company,call of duty,assassin creed,destiny,halo,god of war.grand theft auto 5,Watch dog,Ryse roman empire type game,all Zombies games so on. to angry birds,meatboy,ratchet and clank,sonic,mario,zelda,metrio d,GT,NFS few far inbetween compare to daily New announcement hardcore games we read.even im tired of repetitive wanna-be whatever it is title clone of Call of Duty type hardcore games. im burnt out of first person shooters all the fu'king same non different from the other different title yes but same clone game. gaming used to be fun now days developers is saying fk u if you dont buy what we put out. not everyone mind is brain controlled by military games. few old school gamers still enjoy clean fun games.

[TheLeapist]

Yeah those types of people in my opinion are beyond hardcore. My personal definition of hardcore gamers are people that play a lot of console/pc gaming. I try to keep it simple.

[ritsuka666]

Casual gamers are ruining gaming as we know it.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Casual gamers are responsible for the rise of the gaming industry during the dawn of the playstation era. Sony specifically courted them, and in doing so they helped bring the industry to new heights of popularity and financial prosperity.

And I guess since casual gamers are "ruining everything" developers have stopped making games like Dark Souls, The Witcher 3, Prinny PSP, Contra 4, Super Meat Boy and the Ninja Gaiden Series. All games now are just Kinect trash and Candy Crush Saga and there is nothing else on the market.

[ShaunCameron]

Um. No. Hardcore gamers are too few in number, too limited in funds and too narrow in tastes to keep the industry going by themselves. Especially an industry that pretty much always have been dependent on the mass market for its viability.

[Wintersun616]

Remember all those articles about how mobile games will take over the industry and "hardcore games" as we know it will go extinct? I do. And that's where this all started. I don't judge anyone for hating on the mobile and casual games industries, because I've been there too and to some extent it's justified.

Despite all that, fact is that both sides can live side by side and neither one will cancel out the other. "Hardcore games" are here to stay and so are "casual" games. People will just have to deal with it and stop being so hostile to each other on both fronts. Or better yet, do what I did and learn to appreciate both sides for what they are.

[jeffgoldwin]

Casual/mobile games taking over core games are so very, obviously troll articles that no1 would ever believe that. Please tell me you didn't think it was legit journalism?

[Wintersun616]

Of course I didn't think so. It's just that there was way too much of that which is why I understand the grudge some people are holding.

[mhunterjr]

I couldn't agree more with this article. GtaV, a core experience, is the biggest entertainment event in history, clearly core gamers are getting enough attention.The industry is constantly growing... this growth is good for everyone, especially core gamers... I don't understand the moans and groans anytime a company does something to widen their fan base. There's no reason they can't handle making core experiences and casual experiences. As a core gamer myself, i find myself occasionally dabbling into causal titles from time to time. As long as people are having fun, who cares about the lables.

If Pac-man came out today, which group would it appeal too?

[Retroman]

PAC-MAN would be equal to both sides its neither hardcore or casual but plane fun for all.

unlike hardcore games, which drives casual gamers away you got to think about up-bring of a child if parents raised their children in church (possibility) with merits and ethic. the parents will make sure hardcore games will never face them. that is where casual games come in which there is not a lot these days. im a Christian father myself. Grand theft Auto,Call of Duty,Assassin Creed,Destiny,Battlefield company,Inhuman,Halo type games would never enter my house.

[mhunterjr]

No man, in this case, the term 'hardcore' has nothing to do with the mature content found in games. It has to do with the depth of the gameplay, and the craftsmanship instilled in the overall experience.

Folks who bemoan casual games do so because they feel they are overly simplistic, and generally aren't artistically satisfying. Hardcore gamers they unreasonably fear that since casual games are financially viable, the industry will lose focus on making good core experiences.

[Hicken]

The moans and groans are because of the fear that instead of just widening their fanbase, they'll abandon the fans they already have. It had its core experiences, but the Wii was obviously aimed squarely at the casual market. And look at how core support dried up on the 360 once the Kinect came out. Then there's franchises like Resident Evil that all but changed genres in the name of accessibility.

I play a casual game or two every now and then. Dabbled in Candy Crush, And Treasures of Montezuma on Vita is obviously a casual(spent way too many hours playing it). I'm of the opinion that both markets can coexist.

But that's not the impression you get when you're listening to "industry insiders." According to them, mobile gaming will kill dedicated handhelds, and stuff like Angry Birds will soon replace the likes of Mario. Even developers are singing the casual market's praises, though we should all be aware that they're only speaking from a profit standpoint.

I don't have anything against casual gamers. All core gamers used to be one, myself included. But I think the concern is legitimate that the industry will see how easy it is to make money off the casual segment and forget about those of us who are around at all times(unlike casuals, who will come and go unpredictably).

It's never been an issue before, because there wasn't really a completely separate set of devices and games that specifically targeted the casual crowd. But now, with all the momentum surrounding the casual emergence (thanks to the Wii and tablets/smartphones), it's a very real threat.

[mhunterjr]

All of those fears are completely unwarranted. The wii took a shot at the casual market, but in terms of core experiences, it still had the same content Nintendo has always been known for. You can't say they lost focus when Zelda, Mario, Metroid, Pikmin, Pokemon, etc were still the main stays. Core gamers were so unreasonably upset at the mere presence of casuals, that they convinced themselves that they weren't getting any attention.

Kinect had nothing to do with Core support drying up on the 360, it was Microsoft's handling of the console transition. Simply put, A number of games shifted to Xbox One, others Microsoft passed on others because they didn't think they would work out. Simply put, this speaks to Microsoft's lack of first party developers more than anything.

You speak of franchises like RE, which was simply mismanaged. There is a difference between speaking to a wider audience and losing identity. And as a result re6 failed commercially. Not all is lost... that will serve as a lesson to the rest of the industry.

Casual games can, do, and will continue to coexist in harmony with Core games. The $18million sales of gtav proves it (and I haven't even gotten mine yet). The numbers don't lie, people will always want to buy good core games, so publishers will always want to sell them.

There is no threat. The industry is growing, there's room for everyone and companies are capable of catering to both crowds.