Casual gaming. An immensely popular term used to describe an immerging genre. This sector of the gaming industry generates billions of dollars in revenue and introduces millions of consumers to the games industry. An example would be free mahjong games and systems like the Will have created phenomenal success in this space. The success has been so great that publishers now have divisions dedicated to this genre. It's counterpart and most popular till recently has been traditional gaming. Before we get into the depths of this discussion a description of casual and traditional gaming should begin.
Casual gaming has been around for a very long time. Card games like solitaire were played in non-digital form for hours to pass by the time. Traditional gaming is an exclusive activity while casual gaming is an all-inclusive activity. The very nature of casual games are in their accessibility and simplicity, beginners can be competitive against expert players. Traditional gaming focuses on experts in that area. Traditional gamers have played games for years and are more in tune with the intricacies of the game their playing. The controls and the games themselves are more complex. The titles require more effort to succeed and are longer. Card games in contrast to RPG's are a good example of this. In a traditional RPG there will be hours of movie scenes accompanied by minutes of dialogue before the player can truly become acclimated, as a result this is geared toward a narrower market. A popular game like cafe mahjong, instantly makes the objective known, so the player wastes no time in non-essential areas, can play for as long or as little as they want while still feeling a sense of accomplishment. This has opened the floodgates to many consumers. Women and older individuals (35-50) who do not traditional play games have started to due to the accessibility of casual games.
The file sizes of casual games are much smaller as well. This is critical for the everyday user whose hard drive may be filled with files other than pc games or online games. While traditional games file sizes are much larger, increasing install and loading time while also taking up valuable space. The scope of casual games is usually smaller in terms of size (not in ambition though) the costs to develop and purchase casual flash games are lower. Just take a look at your local retailer in the new releases section, $59.99 for a game. Even the bargain bin has ceased to be a bargain. With casual games you can go online to Jenkatmedia dot com and purchase Fresh Air solitaire or cafe Mahjong, for a few bucks. Then you could look for the many other types of download games, ranging from word games and arcade games to puzzle games, all for a fraction of the cost of a traditional retail game. If costs are still an issue you can take the cheapest route thanks to the Internet. Free. There are many Free download Games available.
The industry continues to evolve, still traditional gaming will always be around, much like independent films, yet the real movement is in casual gaming and is here to stay. It's a natural fact of business, in order to survive you need to adapt and grow. This is the very nature of casual gaming. Innovation in casual games creates something for everyone.
