14 DAY TRIAL // In the gaming industry, there has been a lot of debate over the importance of the hardcore and casual gamer market. Nintendo has proven, through its less powerful, but hugely successful, Wii console that casual gamers are much more numerous than dedicated ones and are more attracted to other types of titles, like Wii Sports or Wii Fit, than to the hardcore-oriented MadWorld or GTA: Chinatown Wars.
Now, though, the President of Sony's PlayStation division, Kaz Hirai, has made an extremely interesting statement, through which he revealed that a hardcore user base was very important for every console and that it needed to be taken care of in the long term, even though it wasn't as hefty as other types.
“A console always needs a solid core of games that appeal to gamers. If you go mainstream too quickly and don't support the core gaming audience, then you lack the pillar to support your platform. Without this pillar, you end up with a fickle audience that might be big but will probably move on.”
Hirai is quite right, for this fact can be exemplified on Nintendo, as it only served a few high-quality, hardcore-oriented titles and now it keeps on releasing much more casual games, in order to satisfy its huge user base, which isn't that interested in the whole industry and just wants to unwind after a hard day.
Hopefully, these words from Sony will reach its local Japanese rival and make it think about its strategy and how, in the long run, users might upgrade from the Wii to the PlayStation 3 console. Do you agree with Hirai? Is the core and loyal audience the most important one, even though it isn't as profitable as the casual part? Leave us a comment with your opinion on the whole hardcore/casual debate.