(Editor’s note: if this topic is of interest, I suggest reading the more recent September 21, 2009 article that deals with similar topics: http://radoff.com/blog/2009/09/21/the-blurring-of-casual-and-hardcore-games/)
I gave a talk at the LOGIN 2009 conference today on the subject of shifting demographics within online gameplay.
If you have been to one of my talks before (or looked at one of the slide decks I’ve posted online), then the introductory section (slides 1-13) will look familiar–in line with my consistent position that games are getting more diverse in terms of audience and game types.
After that, you’ll see a lot of new data we’re releasing at the conference. Some of the cool stuff you’ll find inside includes:
- Some new ways to think about market segmentation rather than “casual versus hardcore.”
- Updated top-15 lists of Xbox Live games, broken down by male versus female players.
- Detailed breakdown of all Guitar Hero and all Rock Band games, showing how daily engagement shifted during the course of each franchise as games were released.
- Data on the games most played by Bioshock players, showing the emergence of a new market segment that is more about setting (gritty, story-oriented, dark) rather than by game genre.
- Competitive set analysis in the MMORPG marketing, demonstrating how World of Warcraft is played by people who don’t really play many other MMOs, versus the last three big releases (Age of Conan, Warhammer and Lord of the Rings Online) which tend to cater the a niche of players who try almost every new MMO release.
Enjoy! If you have comments, I’d love to hear from you — either on this blog, or posted on Twitter. And if you aren’t following me yet, click here to join my conversations.
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