The terms “casual games” and “hardcore games” appeared to define the differences between tiny, cheap, simple games for platforms like the iPhone, Facebook, or DS and huge, multi-year projects like Fallout 3 or Halo. Casual games have a longer history than most people account for, going back to Flash game portals like Newgrounds and Orisinal or text-based games like Nation States. “Hardcore” games also started from simpler, repetitive games like Galaga and Pac Man, and have grown in complexity with the people who play them.
There are a wide range of attitudes on casual gaming. I got to listen to the CEO of a casual game startup describe the existing console market as ‘absurd’ and ‘ridiculous’ compared to gaming on Facebook. I’ve heard game critics and developers say some pretty nasty things about casual games. I’ve been on both sides of the argument. I’ve pointed out, for example, that even simple games are still games. Getting people to play games is good, because it will lead to more people playing hardcore games. I’ve also mused that casual games are not games because they do not generally rely on learning a set of skills to overcome challenges, but merely putting in time.
Games on Facebook and the iPhone have been heavily constrained by processing power and memory. But that is improving rapidly – Flash is getting GPU rendering, the iPhone and its competitors have more than doubled in power, and these constraints are fading. We’ve seen some “hardcore” games on casual platforms – from the browser-based Quake Live to ports of Monkey Island or Final Fantasy to Flash and the iPhone. We’ve also seen more casual games on traditional platforms – Kinect is making its debut on 360 with Kinectimals, and games like Flower on the PS3 take simple controls and make them wonderful. Steam has a bevy of casual games like Plants vs. Zombies for PC Gamers.
I think going forward, rather than having a sharp divide between ‘casual’ and ‘hardcore’ games, we’ll see it as a continuum of complexity. We’ll see things like ‘casual open-world rpgs’ or ‘casual survival horror,’ and we’ll start to lose sight of where the boundaries are. Minecraft, for example, has simple mechanics that have spiraled into wonderfully creative art projects from its players. I think within a few years, talking about casual games vs hardcore games will be irrelevant, and gamers will have separated into even smaller, more specialized cliques.