core-gamer
Latest
Analysts: 75 percent of US core gamers prefer physical copies
According to sales and marketing analyst NPD Group, 75 percent of American core gamers prefer physical game copies to digital distribution. The firm surveyed 7,900 core gamers to arrive at its conclusion. It defines "core gamer" as someone who plays at least five hours worth of action, adventure, fighting, flight, MMO, racing, RTS, RPG, shooter, or sports games per week on PCs, Microsoft or Sony consoles, or Macs. The firm concludes that 34 million US gamers fall under its core definition, with the average core gamer playing 22 hours per week. NPD's report also claims that while the overwhelming majority of its survey participants favor physical game copies, digital distribution is up five percent year-over-year.
The Daily Grind: What constitutes a 'core gamer'?
In the last week, analysts have told us that the PS4 is winning with "core gamers," and a League of Legends rep (perhaps, ahem, a bit overzealously) called his game "pretty much the first successful free online game in the west that core gamers actually really like and play." But both did so without agreeing on what, precisely, constitutes a core gamer. Wikipedia defines the archetype in that broad, nebulous zone between casuals and hardcores, two groups that themselves seem hard to pin down: "a player with a wider range of interests than a casual gamer [who] is more likely to enthusiastically play different types of games, but without the amount of time spent and sense of competition of a hardcore gamer," someone who "enjoys games but may not finish every game [he or she buys], doesn't have time for long MMO quests, and is a target consumer." But the term always bugs me because it provokes gamers to fall for the false-consensus effect: We assume we're normal and define ourselves within the safe zone of "core" and then assume that the games we like are therefore also "core." What do you think -- what constitutes a core gamer and a core MMO gamer? And do you likewise think the term is too broad and malleable to be useful? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
NPD report: 'Digital gamers' encroaching on 'Core gamer' turf
According to a new report from NPD, digital gaming (i.e. "not retail" gaming) is on the rise, with "digital gamers" gaining headway against "core gamers" in two categories. Specifically, digital gamers spend sixteen hours gaming per week, as compared to the eighteen hours spent by the core. Digital gamers actually purchase more games, pulling in 5.9 games over the last three months, while their core brethren brought home 5.4 in the same period. Meanwhile, both groups are actually hefty acquirers of downloadable games, with downloadable titles accounting for more than a third of overall game purchases. The question, then, is what exactly separates the two demographics? After all, it looks like they share fairly similar habits, according to the numbers. We turned to NPD's David Riley, who explained that core gamers as defined by NPD are "very engaged across all systems, especially consoles" and have "higher use of Xbox 360 and PS3 than all other segments." When it comes to digital purchases, core gamers are more likely to buy add-on content than full games. Digital gamers, on the other hand, "are engaged in a variety of gaming, from PC to mobile, console to portable, online and offline." They also have the "highest number of digital games acquired" and particularly enjoy the immediacy of downloadable purchases. Still, it's clear that there's some crossover between demographics, something that seems to be recognized by NPD itself. Citing the growth of mobile and tablet gaming, NPD's Anita Frazier notes, "what a game is and what it means to be a gamer is evolving, reflecting the rapid nature of change within the industry."
Nintendo's Rob Lowe discusses casual versus core product cycles
In an interview with Casualgaming.biz, Nintendo UK product manager Rob Lowe was asked if the casual, family-friendly gamer has become more valuable to the video games industry than the core gamer. "There is clear room for both and any publisher can demonstrate clear value in both casual and hard core," he responded, suggesting Nintendo sees the benefit of having titles aimed at both markets. A fair assessment from the company who reigns supreme in the hardware sales charts. According to Lowe, casual and core software have the same ability to sell, but each at a different pace. While core titles usually sell well within a short time, casual games have a better ability to sell consistently throughout their lifespan on the store shelf. "For every Carnival Games there is a BioShock and for every Wii Fit there is a Resident Evil 5," Lowe said. "It's really just different product cycle." A strong argument, even if Lowe couldn't name two recently released core titles on his own platform.
Nintendo's move 'away from the hardcore' cited in N-Revolution mag's closure
MCV reports that Imagine's Nintendo-only UK magazine, N•Revolution, will cease publication. In this day and age, with ad revenue and readership down – not to mention a little thing you're using called the internet – this move doesn't exactly come as a surprise. Its publisher's reasoning for the closure does.Imagine's managing director, Damian Butt, says that Nintendo's focus is shifting away from the magazine's readership, i.e. core gamers. "It has become increasingly obvious that Nintendo's strategy...has moved increasingly away from the hardcore gaming community that is our specialty," Butt explained. Still, Butt says that Imagine – which also publishes gamesTM – will continue to work with Nintendo to "drive purchases of Nintendo software." We're sure it will be in an entirely objective, unbiased, above-the-board way ... of working with a company to positively influence software sales through editorial. What could be wrong with that? Oh.
Miyamoto's promise: Nintendo working on 'many' core games
Hoping to make the rounds this week and get the word out about the casual concoction that is Wii Music, Shigeru Miyamoto just couldn't escape questions about where all the "real" games are. Speaking to GameDaily, the legendary game designer replied (and we're paraphrasing here – maybe even a little too much): "They're coming, so can you please stop asking?"Okay, okay. What he specifically and actually said was that, "...for 30 years now I've been making games and for the vast majority of time I've been making the type of games that the loyal Nintendo fans enjoy." Yes, we're aware. Please continue. Where's the fanbait? Oh, here it is: "Those are the types of games that my career is based on and we're going to continue to make those types of games. In fact, we have many of those types of games in development right now."Don't let our glib take on this ... core crisis color your opinion of Mr. Miyamoto. He's an outstanding person and incredibly nice. Sure, he's a little exasperated about the situation, but, like all loyal Nintendo fans, that's to be expected at this point.
Pachter: Nintendo hasn't abandoned core gamers
If you were disappointed with Nintendo's E3 showing, then odds are you have a lot of like-minded folks to agree with you. A majority of the industry feels that Nintendo's showing at E3 wasn't really, uh ... good. If you're not looking for real games, then you were probably happy with Wii Music.Pachter thinks that Nintendo hasn't abandoned the core gamers. He went on to say that "some hardcore gamers were critical of Nintendo's failure to announce new Mario and Zelda games at the show... we think that Nintendo focused upon building upon its formidable lead with the mass market, and do not consider the lack of major hard core game announcements to be an abandonment of its core." Interesting, but what do you all think? Did Nintendo abandon the core gamer or is the hope for a new Zelda and Mario game sometime in the future proof that they haven't forgotten about those core folk?
Harvest Moon DS accessory kit spotted
If you like to have cartoon cows on stuff, chances are you're a Harvest Moon fan. You'll probably be thrilled, then, to see this Harvest Moon DS Travel Kit, which is rife with the things. Not only do you get a cow-spotted DS Lite cover (with weird interchangeable panel things), the set comes with a cow-adorned strap and a spotted stylus featuring the friendly face (and the rest of the head) of one of the series' trademark ruminants.Made to tie in with Island of Happiness, this kit comes out on April 1st -- even though Island of Happiness isn't out until June -- at a price of $19.99
