The Real-Ass Casual Gamer is Back with a Bat: Grand Theft Auto IV and the Most Underserved Market Segment in Gaming History
Analysts are now predicting that Grand Theft Auto IV will sell 9,000,000 copies at launch. That's 9,000,000 people buying a single game title, at a price point ranging from sixty god damn dollars all the way up to ninety (I'm personally going in for the $90) at fucking launch. A little poking around on VGChartz.com has let me know that San Andreas topped out around 17,000,000 copies across platforms. This is roughly equivalent to the sales numbers of Super Mario Bros 3, which topped out just north of 17,000,000 copies moved as well (and is actually mistakenly thought to be the best-selling game of all time by many folks).
You remember the 80s? The era of big hair, big cars, and big money for Nintendo of America. Every fucking family in this country either possessed or was in lack of an 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System; the artform of interactive livingroom entertainment itself was reclassified as "Nintendo" in popular lexicon, not unlike the way Kleenex replaced "facial tissue." With such wide penetration and such ubiquitous market mindshare and presence, you simply can't get more casual than the NES. All this Wii noize you're hearing now? It's actually approaching the NES, but it's not even close. No one was concerned about how these families were moving Mario and Link and all their cohorts around the screen with this complicated space-age controller interface. No. Not at all, in fact. You move the guy with this one and you jump with this one. That one is superspeed but you don't need it to have fun. Period.
Something created a great disconnect as these people stopped buying carts, right? Nintendo reimplemented analog controls in their mid-nineties console, desperately trying to grab back market share from the new kings of top-of-mind: Sony. Yeah yeah, fuck it. You don't need a fucking history lesson. The point is, there is this mistaken assumption out there that games are too intimidating for COMMON FOLKS and they don't know how to move a stick around and push some buttons and hit a trigger. For casual games to really hit mass consciousness, you need to dumb down all controls to simple (actually cumbersome and frustrating in the current implementation) gestures and pointing at shit. Then, and only then, can you appeal to the "casual gaming audience" and engage them in their living rooms.
What fucking absolute horse shit. I am insulted as a human being that we've got an industry press and large R&D departments at major hardware manufacturers saying that a fucking interface device with analog sticks and an array of conveniently-positioned buttons is too hard for people to understand. You think the 9,000,000 people buying Grand Theft Auto IV at launch are rocket scientists? Mega Uber Hardcore Gaming Cocks? No, no they sure aren't. They're geniuses and they're idiots. They dutifully pump your gas while simultaneously keeping your email account secure from hackers. They are jr. high dropouts; they are post-secondary degree possessing authorities on technology or medicine or business. What could bring such a disparate group of people together, all rallying around a single gameplay experience?
Because it contains something they all want. It might be different for you than it is for Hank, but it's something which is compelling that erstwhile "gamer" to pick up a controller and give it a go. Long before the PS2 became a jukebox attached to microphones, drums, and cheap plastic guitars, it was a cash cow profit center. And, every citizen of every country who bought one brought it home, unpacked it, and began interfacing with a device with more than 15 digital inputs and two analog sticks. What were they doing? Why was Sony profitable with such a hard-to-pick-up-for-the-average-idiot controller? How did we all get along before the RevolUTION!?!?
Those people have been forgotten. The vast array of casual gamers who made PS2 the victor of the last generation are presently being underserved by this notion that their play experiences of the past were not simple enough. The presentation too whizzamatronic, the interface too cumbersome, and the games themselves way way too hardcore. It's all twisted around. Just because really shitty "casual" games with motion control are really popular with kids, parents, old folks, and everyone else, people are pretending that the entire game has changed. That all gaming experiences can be condensed into your right hand, the way you move it, and ancient presentational elements scurrying around the screen collecting apples.
It's exactly the same in the PC web (flash) game market. Why are these games huge and profitable? Because it's easy to get into, it's universal, and it's free! It reminds me of something else which just isn't coming to mind... ..wait! I got it! Hold onto your hats for this next part.
The "casual" web gaming market is to the actual home interactive entertainment market as video pornography is to the actual motion picture theatre/DVD/broadcast market. No shit. Porn? Anyone can generate it; in their basement, in their bath tub, in their automobile... and it still holds some kind of market appeal. People want to see people naked, and doing stuff. Likewise, anyone can generate a "casual" web game. In their basement, in their bath tub, in their automobile... and it still holds some kind of market appeal. You have major-studio porn just like you have major studio "casual" PC games. They hold about the same level of interest. They're both vastly profitable, and growing astronomically as the Devil takes control of more and more "idle hands" across this increasingly digitized world. All of it is equally meaningless.
A large interactive entertainment studio has traditionally been about universal entertainment and ambitious gameplay themes -- things which captivate, inspire, and move you. Likewise (you see that I keep just comparing shit), the large motion picture studio has traditionally been about bringing droves of people to movie theatres. How casual is Titanic? It's, like, the most casual motion picture ever made! Do you see how fucking stupid these distinctions are becoming in interactive entertainment?
It's all about artistic expression. It always has been. And, with a game like Grand Theft Auto IV, it's an expression of that which makes video gaming essentially different from all other forms of entertainment: you are free. You take this man, and you move him. Left. Right. Jump. Shoot a fucking bazooka. These things will never change, and it appears that Rockstar North has created the state of the art in interactive freedom, while taking the expressiveness of the supporting game content to dizzying, delightful new heights.
Fuck "casual" gaming. I'm thinking about the underserved casual gaming market in the console space as those same people who want big experiences for their bucks. They saw Titanic eight times just like they bought The Lion King on DVD just like they think Legend of Zelda 10 sounds like an enticing proposition. Yes, these people watch porn, too, just like they do "casual" gaming late at night for hours on end without realizing why they're doing what they're doing. The average "casual" gamer, to me, could be approximated by some 35 year old bus driver spending all hours at Habbo Hotel, creeping up on people and then just standing there. Dick in hand. Guy is watching a windowed porno.
I hope I'm making myself clear. It's attention span. It's storytelling. It's universality. It's about making people DESIRE to get lost in your game or story or contest or struggle. It's all essentially human, but one method of interactive entertainment operates on a different plane than another, and doesn't allow the "other" to pretend to be a useful substitute. We don't go down to the Cinemaplex and watch two dudes tagteam a MILF in the back of a moving ice cream truck.
Let's stop catering to people who buy toys instead of games. Let's start hitting this VASTLY UNDERSERVED market; the likes of which is willing to snatch up NINE FUCKING MILLION copies of a "hardcore, obtuse" game title on opening day. You think these people aren't ready to spend money? You think they're satisfied swatting their fists in the air while pansexual ditties play and little cartoon FUCKS dance around onscreen? Let's leave the children at a different table than the one at which we all dine. Let's do this right.
You hear me. You know I'm right. Do it.
You remember the 80s? The era of big hair, big cars, and big money for Nintendo of America. Every fucking family in this country either possessed or was in lack of an 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System; the artform of interactive livingroom entertainment itself was reclassified as "Nintendo" in popular lexicon, not unlike the way Kleenex replaced "facial tissue." With such wide penetration and such ubiquitous market mindshare and presence, you simply can't get more casual than the NES. All this Wii noize you're hearing now? It's actually approaching the NES, but it's not even close. No one was concerned about how these families were moving Mario and Link and all their cohorts around the screen with this complicated space-age controller interface. No. Not at all, in fact. You move the guy with this one and you jump with this one. That one is superspeed but you don't need it to have fun. Period.
Something created a great disconnect as these people stopped buying carts, right? Nintendo reimplemented analog controls in their mid-nineties console, desperately trying to grab back market share from the new kings of top-of-mind: Sony. Yeah yeah, fuck it. You don't need a fucking history lesson. The point is, there is this mistaken assumption out there that games are too intimidating for COMMON FOLKS and they don't know how to move a stick around and push some buttons and hit a trigger. For casual games to really hit mass consciousness, you need to dumb down all controls to simple (actually cumbersome and frustrating in the current implementation) gestures and pointing at shit. Then, and only then, can you appeal to the "casual gaming audience" and engage them in their living rooms.
What fucking absolute horse shit. I am insulted as a human being that we've got an industry press and large R&D departments at major hardware manufacturers saying that a fucking interface device with analog sticks and an array of conveniently-positioned buttons is too hard for people to understand. You think the 9,000,000 people buying Grand Theft Auto IV at launch are rocket scientists? Mega Uber Hardcore Gaming Cocks? No, no they sure aren't. They're geniuses and they're idiots. They dutifully pump your gas while simultaneously keeping your email account secure from hackers. They are jr. high dropouts; they are post-secondary degree possessing authorities on technology or medicine or business. What could bring such a disparate group of people together, all rallying around a single gameplay experience?
Because it contains something they all want. It might be different for you than it is for Hank, but it's something which is compelling that erstwhile "gamer" to pick up a controller and give it a go. Long before the PS2 became a jukebox attached to microphones, drums, and cheap plastic guitars, it was a cash cow profit center. And, every citizen of every country who bought one brought it home, unpacked it, and began interfacing with a device with more than 15 digital inputs and two analog sticks. What were they doing? Why was Sony profitable with such a hard-to-pick-up-for-the-average-idiot controller? How did we all get along before the RevolUTION!?!?
Those people have been forgotten. The vast array of casual gamers who made PS2 the victor of the last generation are presently being underserved by this notion that their play experiences of the past were not simple enough. The presentation too whizzamatronic, the interface too cumbersome, and the games themselves way way too hardcore. It's all twisted around. Just because really shitty "casual" games with motion control are really popular with kids, parents, old folks, and everyone else, people are pretending that the entire game has changed. That all gaming experiences can be condensed into your right hand, the way you move it, and ancient presentational elements scurrying around the screen collecting apples.
It's exactly the same in the PC web (flash) game market. Why are these games huge and profitable? Because it's easy to get into, it's universal, and it's free! It reminds me of something else which just isn't coming to mind... ..wait! I got it! Hold onto your hats for this next part.
The "casual" web gaming market is to the actual home interactive entertainment market as video pornography is to the actual motion picture theatre/DVD/broadcast market. No shit. Porn? Anyone can generate it; in their basement, in their bath tub, in their automobile... and it still holds some kind of market appeal. People want to see people naked, and doing stuff. Likewise, anyone can generate a "casual" web game. In their basement, in their bath tub, in their automobile... and it still holds some kind of market appeal. You have major-studio porn just like you have major studio "casual" PC games. They hold about the same level of interest. They're both vastly profitable, and growing astronomically as the Devil takes control of more and more "idle hands" across this increasingly digitized world. All of it is equally meaningless.
A large interactive entertainment studio has traditionally been about universal entertainment and ambitious gameplay themes -- things which captivate, inspire, and move you. Likewise (you see that I keep just comparing shit), the large motion picture studio has traditionally been about bringing droves of people to movie theatres. How casual is Titanic? It's, like, the most casual motion picture ever made! Do you see how fucking stupid these distinctions are becoming in interactive entertainment?
It's all about artistic expression. It always has been. And, with a game like Grand Theft Auto IV, it's an expression of that which makes video gaming essentially different from all other forms of entertainment: you are free. You take this man, and you move him. Left. Right. Jump. Shoot a fucking bazooka. These things will never change, and it appears that Rockstar North has created the state of the art in interactive freedom, while taking the expressiveness of the supporting game content to dizzying, delightful new heights.
Fuck "casual" gaming. I'm thinking about the underserved casual gaming market in the console space as those same people who want big experiences for their bucks. They saw Titanic eight times just like they bought The Lion King on DVD just like they think Legend of Zelda 10 sounds like an enticing proposition. Yes, these people watch porn, too, just like they do "casual" gaming late at night for hours on end without realizing why they're doing what they're doing. The average "casual" gamer, to me, could be approximated by some 35 year old bus driver spending all hours at Habbo Hotel, creeping up on people and then just standing there. Dick in hand. Guy is watching a windowed porno.
I hope I'm making myself clear. It's attention span. It's storytelling. It's universality. It's about making people DESIRE to get lost in your game or story or contest or struggle. It's all essentially human, but one method of interactive entertainment operates on a different plane than another, and doesn't allow the "other" to pretend to be a useful substitute. We don't go down to the Cinemaplex and watch two dudes tagteam a MILF in the back of a moving ice cream truck.
Let's stop catering to people who buy toys instead of games. Let's start hitting this VASTLY UNDERSERVED market; the likes of which is willing to snatch up NINE FUCKING MILLION copies of a "hardcore, obtuse" game title on opening day. You think these people aren't ready to spend money? You think they're satisfied swatting their fists in the air while pansexual ditties play and little cartoon FUCKS dance around onscreen? Let's leave the children at a different table than the one at which we all dine. Let's do this right.
You hear me. You know I'm right. Do it.
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