Report: Game industry diversifying

According to latest survey, common labels like "hardcore gamer" and "casual gamer" address less than half the audience.

As the game industry grows in size, it stands to reason that it's growing in diversity. But where many industry watchers are content to divide gaming audiences into "hardcore" and "casual" groups, Parks Associates analyst Michael Cai believes there are no less than six distinct groups. What's more, he believes that the existing hardcore/casual view of the industry misses out on a huge chunk of the market.

"If game companies insist on chasing the mythical hardcore and casual gamer segments, they will miss out on more than half of the market," Cai said "The market is not black and white anymore, and game marketers need to understand these finer nuances."

Based on a survey of almost 2,000 US online gamers, Cai broke the market up into the following segments:

Power gamers--Only accounting for 11 percent of the gaming audience, they make up 30 percent of the revenue drawn by retail and online games.
Social gamers--This self-explanatory group games for the social interactions with friends.
Leisure gamers--This group mostly sticks to casual games (playing as many as 58 hours a month), but doesn't shy away from challenging titles.
Dormant gamers--These people really enjoy gaming, but can't play often due to other time commitments. When they do find time to play, they prefer complex, challenging titles and playing with friends or family.
Incidental gamers--The incidental crowd plays games if they're bored and can spend more than 20 hours each month with online games.
Occasional gamers--Part of the previously labeled "casual" group, occasional gamers rarely stray beyond the genres of puzzle games, word games, and board games.

Cai said that of these groups, the "traditionally ignored" social, leisure, and dormant gamers made up 53 percent of the online gaming community, and 56 percent of the retail revenue brought in by games. As an example of how this market is underserved at present, Cai said that social and leisure gamers want the social-gaming aspects that power gamers have come to expect, even if the types of games they play are vastly different.

91 Comments

  • cheaterking2

    Posted Sep 2, 2007 11:01 pm PT

    power gamer all the way but i though we would be more than 11 percent of gamer

  • MasterAsh42

    Posted Sep 14, 2006 12:05 pm PT

    Hey. . .This is a pretty keen theory.

    I've never really felt casual or hardcore. Seems Dormant sums me up well. I tend to play in bursts, sitting around until the next to the next big thing. (ex. I didn't jump on Metroid Prime Hunters, I picked up Tetris DS and later Lost Magic.)

  • overachiever92

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 6:19 pm PT

    I'm probably a leisure gamer.

  • KronikKilla

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 1:25 pm PT

    Dormant/Power/Social

  • Tremblay343

    Posted Sep 10, 2006 9:51 am PT

    Power gamers are the way to go baby. If that is the hardcore gamers. I mean we are the greatest group. Oh wait. how much you wanna bet this is gonna start up some war. People having like power gamer unions, and start hating on the other groups. I actually want to see this happen. But then again, i don't think many casual gamers are enlisted on this site. I mean hardcore gamers want to get the enws first and right away, i mean everything gets pushed aside until they know whats going on, and thats what this site is all about. So i think the whole 11 percent of the gaming audience is a user on this site

  • skeletor0

    Posted Sep 8, 2006 11:13 am PT

    leisure in theory; dormant in practice

  • TNTales

    Posted Sep 6, 2006 8:22 pm PT

    Dormant to Leisure here.

  • V1RuS0fL1fE

    Posted Sep 6, 2006 2:54 pm PT

    dormant

  • alcarazo9

    Posted Sep 6, 2006 1:37 pm PT

    im a hardcore gamer,but only 2000 thats nothing they should have ask more people

  • NintendoWarrior

    Posted Sep 6, 2006 1:17 pm PT

    im prlly leisure/power

  • world69star69

    Posted Sep 4, 2006 6:04 pm PT

    What did he mean when he said "2000 Online gamers" ? Was he only refering to online multiplayer games like wow, fps deathmatch type games, online console co-op/deathmatch, online card/board/puzzle games? What about someone like me who rarely plays anygame online! I play a few hours each night and use the internet for news, mods, or community forums, but play games single player offline!!! Games like Oblivion, Splinter Cell(sp), Homm3-5, Thief series, Rome Total War(campaign), Kotor1-2,NWN, CIV3/4....ALL single player mode! All on pc. No console play for this 27year old married male with a job 6 days a week and college 2 nights a week, and I still manage to get at least 2 hours a day in, and mod and make maps for games somthing that makes the pc the best platform. So what catagory would I fall under hmm....None as this seems targeted to console and online play, not complex involving pc gaming, which is quite different, and I'm not talking about solitare here.

  • princeofgames90

    Posted Sep 2, 2006 3:26 pm PT

    I am A power gamer for shure

  • interpolred

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 11:22 am PT

    I would say I am a Power (Hardcore) gamer.

  • starcutter20000

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 9:48 am PT

    I say I'm a power/dormant type I like challenge with story and engagement which is what makes a game memorable.

  • jamieor5

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 12:58 am PT

    I'd like to add my gaming type: Getting Older Gamer. I like intense stories, graphics, etc., but my reaction time is slowing so I gravitate to turn-based games like RPGs, point and clicks, and Animal Crossing. It's about story and character for me - except when I break out my Colecovision. Final point: this gaming group is growing in numbers!

  • prostar343

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 4:42 pm PT

    That's interesting. I guess by these definitions I'm mostly a dormant gamer.

  • scruffybawls

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 3:44 pm PT

    nitrog said it all there. the labels should just be hardcore and casual, and i see casual as being 40 % of the console market, which kinda makes the hardcore label sound weird, i think casual makes about 80 % of pc and taking about 50-60% of the market on handhelds due to cellphones

  • rokkuman09

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 2:51 pm PT

    I'm too "good" for hardcoe i'm UBER LEET HAXORZ NINJA!!!

  • WolfSkill5544

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 2:17 pm PT

    I agree with "capthunt" I'm still hardcore.

  • capthunt

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 1:49 pm PT

    watever, im still hardcore

  • spartancfos

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 1:35 pm PT

    Im definitly a leisure gamer which though i also play as a social gamer with my mates as something to do

  • RobberBob

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 1:26 pm PT

    Hm. I probably fit under dormant, seeing that I check Gamespot daily but haven't bought a game in months.

  • _Sam_

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 12:45 pm PT

    interesting article

  • nitrog

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 10:38 am PT

    "the_junk
    and it's absolutely amazing how this completely enrages certain people *cough* G_W_X *cough*. lol settle down bro. i think you may just like games a little TOO much. it's not like the article was attacking anybody haha." acctually bro this article offends me greatly........what a horrible waste of time both mine and the creator of the article......he acomplished nothing......and i wasted the time to read the F#&$ing thing

  • nitrog

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 10:28 am PT

    Congradulations gamespot for posting the most pointless article i have ever read. WTF does it matter if there are 2 catagories of games or 6 yeah people play diffrently, of course the time constraints are diffrent the point is how do these demographics effect how games are made? is there genra of games that are not currently being produced that would somehow benifit one demographic or another? If they are gamers then they arn't being left out of the market........otherwise they wouldn't be gamers in the first place the point of the casual gamer vs the hardcore gamer argument is mearly determining how much content should be avail for the gamer to go though. if it's for a hardcore gamer then it's more content if it's geared for the casual gamer then it's a easier learning curve and less content. I don't see what makeing up 4 more target markets is going to do but make developers second guess how they are makeing the titles. it says right in the first paragraph that the existing hardcore/casual view of the industry misses out on a huge chunk of the market. obviously thats wrong.........I mean they had to be playing the games to even be clasified as one of these 6 catagories. it's not that these catagories don't exist it's just pointless to define them any further because no developer should change what their goal is for a given game because suddenly they feel they are targeting to the "i play after football pratice but before dinner unless i have to go to the bathroom or there is something good on tv that I haven't seen before" market. All game developers have to do is decide MORE CONTENT? or LESS CONTENT?

  • Spartanx23

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 10:26 am PT

    Wow! Whoever did this is stone cold stupid. The bottom 5 are all casual gamer profiles! The top one would be myself, which is hardcore. I'm hardcore baby, and play with friends and family, and also highly social. Power gamer? What a joke, and lame.

  • tehbighead

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 10:00 am PT

    i'll apologize on gamespot's behalf for those of you who feel disenfranchised by not being described to a 't' or cheated by being made to read something other than the back of a game's packaging.

  • peeweeshift

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 9:49 am PT

    i play halo 2 and socom 3 online for about 2 hours per day each. and i play single player games at around 30 min per day. (2+2+0.5)*30=135 hours per month. What category do fall under

  • gonzalezj1

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 9:32 am PT

    sonicare:
    "Why the need to label anyway? I'm sure most people don't fully fit under any of those titles."

    Of course most people wouldn't fully fit under any of those catagories, but if you don't label people or sort them into groups, how are you supposed to market your product to them?
    By the way, I'd have to put myself somewhere between the Leisure and Dormant catagories.

  • makemeweak

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:50 am PT

    Good delineation. Sounds about right to me. I'd have to put myself in the dormant category. Wife>kids>job>games.

  • sonicare

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:39 am PT

    Why the need to label anyway? I'm sure most people don't fully fit under any of those titles.

  • The_Weekend

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:27 am PT

    Hmmm, I'm neither here nor there ... how? I think I'm one of the rejected figures ... despite being a gamer myself!

  • the_junk

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:12 am PT

    and it's absolutely amazing how this completely enrages certain people *cough* G_W_X *cough*. lol settle down bro. i think you may just like games a little TOO much. it's not like the article was attacking anybody haha.

  • the_junk

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:07 am PT

    makes some sense. probably a good thing for developers to know the different types of people out there and what types of titles they want to see made.

  • jaredgood1

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 7:30 am PT

    Unnecessary. Power = Hardcore
    Social through Occasional = Casual

    For crying out loud, casual is even used in the definitions of a couple of the descriptions. A common definition of "casual" is irregular or occasional. That sounds like the bottom 5 to me.

  • metdevthegamer

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 7:09 am PT

    I'm much too complicated for labels.

  • ElJefeDeMedios

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 7:01 am PT

    What - you didnt think the gaming industry was labeling you from the get-go? This is no different than any other industry in terms of companies trying to segment the market in order to better understand the needs and desires of its consumers ... in the end ... it can only help promote specific games for each persons tastes - why the whole "Brave New World" feedback?

  • TintedChimes

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 6:52 am PT

    poor gamer, that's what I am

  • Thanos_of_MW

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 6:40 am PT

    Mmm...we are being labeled now... so according to these guys I used to be a power gamer that has turned into a dormant gamer

  • dergy

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 6:21 am PT

    um........newsflash!!!!! dont give a crap.

  • azad_champ

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 6:10 am PT

    Agrees with Autolycus

  • Autolycus

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 5:53 am PT

    who cares

  • kawakev

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 5:48 am PT

    I'm a broke power gamer. That's a crap place to be lemme tell ya.

  • corlorde

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 5:47 am PT

    The gaming industry is now labeling you.

  • spidey008

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 5:39 am PT

    I think this is a better breakdown of what the gaming market is made up of. People on the forums here at gamespot are using Casual as a insult and I think that it shows their ignorance in diversity.

    I consider myself as a Dormant/Power gamer. I have a job and family that limits me to play as much as I like.

  • IgnatiusX

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 5:14 am PT

    The game industry is divertisidifistiyiffying...

    Lawl.

  • baelrrogg

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 4:58 am PT

    Man this is crap....who is this guy anyway and waht kinda of research yielded these results?....Always funny to see some professor or scientist who never played a game himself try to explain the game industry and type of gamers.

  • soul_motor

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 4:17 am PT

    I guess I'm a dormant... Neat to know...

  • G_W_X

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 4:10 am PT

    And to think these people get paid to write theis unecessary fluff.

    Really what does this wall of text do for anyone? hmm?
    Let me give you a "hint" a big fat NOTHING.

    The game industry is divertisidifistiyiffying...
    who cares, really?
    In other words well woo-tee-doo,....what deos it all mean...
    NOTHING.
    Go play a consle or somthing man. Go do somthing, instrad of writing these ridiculous walls of unecessary text. I just hate this kind of thing.
    Really why do we need to know this?
    huh why?

  • DesRed

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 4:10 am PT

    Interesting, though I still prefer the other type of categorisation like hardcore, mainstream, casual and so on type.

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