Archive notice: This article was originally published on July 16, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
The major video game companies are expanding their activities toward the mainstream. At the opening of this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, all signs point toward casual and social gaming. Microsoft and Sony aim to close the gap with Nintendo and intensify their efforts in family-friendly games. The resounding success of the Wii concept has prompted the other console manufacturers to act as they also seek to benefit from the casual-gaming trend. Competition among the three video game giants has intensified, most recently reflected in a price cut for the Xbox 360 in North America.
“There is a clear movement to bring more women, young girls, and older people on board,” analyst Piers Harding-Rolls told BBC Online. Nintendo had achieved enormous success with Wii and clearly outperformed the competition with casual-gaming titles. “A new category of video games has been created—lifestyle and training games, as well as the entire social-software sector, are developing fantastically,” Harding-Rolls said. There is definitely further demand for such products. According to Screen Digest, the market for the current console generation will reach the 80-million mark by the end of this year. Game developers are also increasingly jumping on the mass-market games bandwagon, launching new products and benefiting more and more from online sales.
“We are doing more than well so far this year and are recording excellent sales. Nintendo has made strong efforts in social gaming over the past two years and will continue to do so,” Gerald Kossaer, Nintendo’s Head of Marketing, told the pressetext.de news service. The development of new games, most recently Wii Fit, was continually creating new target groups. “Nintendo’s strategy of looking for target audiences where others do not has proved successful,” Kossaer said. During E3, the console manufacturer is expected to announce a series of partnerships with developers that also want to share in Wii’s success. It is also expected to reveal what its in-house studios are currently working on. Wii has so far been dominated by Nintendo’s own software, and it remains to be seen how much external developers will be able to contribute.
With a price cut and the launch of a new 60-gigabyte version of the Xbox 360, Microsoft is also trying to embrace the mainstream trend. At the same time, the company intends to return to its traditional strength in adventure and action titles. New games including Gears of War 2 and the role-playing game Fable 2 are therefore also being presented at E3. Alongside casual games, online games are increasingly setting the tone in the video game industry. Downloads and online services, together with mainstream trends, are defining this year’s computer game conference. “Online gaming is becoming increasingly popular throughout Europe. Europe is no longer a small online market,” Harding-Rolls said.
