14 DAY TRIAL // The gaming industry, despite being quite profitable even though the worldwide recession is still taking a toll on other branches of entertainment, hasn't been spared by the economic downturn and the fact that people aren't spending money on video games like they used to speaks volumes in this sense.
As such, revenues have been the same as last year or even lower for quite a lot of companies involved in creating video games. But all of these things can be resolved, at least according to famous game designer Goichi Suda, or Suda51, as his fans call him. He recently talked with GamesIndustry about the Japanese gaming market, and the worldwide one, which have been suffering from lower revenues as opposed to former years.
He went on to say that between the hardcore and casual gamers, there was an important niche segment, the “middle market,” which, if cared for properly, could become extremely profitable for developers and publishers. “Well, there are a lot of core gamers, and a lot of lighter users playing on platforms such as the DS - but there's nothing in-between. I think it's going to be very important for games to be created for that middle audience, and that will help bring the market back on-track.”
The game designer exemplified his opinion with a few countries, “I was actually [in Europe] early last year for the promotion of the first No More Heroes, and I realized that the UK, France and Germany are the mature markets, while Italy and Spain are still growing. There are still new gamers there and they want to know more - so there are good opportunities. In Japan there are still core gamers, but since Nintendo released the Wii and DS a lot of people who never played games before are now playing. Those people that are playing the different types of games are growing, which is a good thing for the Japanese market.”
Suda does have a point, as not all casual gamers, who are attracted to titles for the Wii or the DS, turn into hardcore users overnight and that the process may be quite long. Games such as Suda's No More Heroes will certainly bridge the gap and make more casual users experienced.