There have been a flurry of reports lately breaking many of the misconceptions about the video game market - misconceptions that have led to a saturation in the market of games that last anywhere from 12 - 50 hours, utilize third- or first-person controls and gameplay, and contain content typically geared towards 18 - 34 year-old males (violence and over sexualized women characters/sex, drugs, and rock n' roll).
This past spring, the Entertainment Software Association released results from their 2005 survey that showed that, actually, women made up 45% of the market, and 55% of all game-buying decisions. These women were not playing "hard-core" games, however, as they made up only 1 out 5 hard-core players.
Less than a month ago, the Park Associates identified six distinct groups in gamers based on their time spent and motivation. Of these six groups, the "Dormant Gamer" and "Occasional Gamer" groups made up 50% of the market, where as the "Power Gamer" (their classification of the hard-core gamer) made for only 11%. The Power Gamer also held the lowest percentage of the market out of all six groups.
And yesterday, the NPD group revealed their own study into the segmentation of the gamer market. "Heavy Gamers," as NPD classified hard-core gamers, consisted of only 3% of the entire market. Within this segment, 21% are actually female, and 45% are between the ages 6-17. This is contrary to the wide-spread belief that Heavy Gamers are 18-34 and 99% male.
Anita Frazier, entertainment industry analyst fro the NPD group sums it up best,"Heavy gamers can be critical to a title or retailer's success since they are the market leaders, but focusing on this segment entirely is ignoring a much broader consumer base and larger revenue potential."
It is an exciting time now to be a game creator. The market is now ballooning in places that were not previously predicted by the major studios, leaving gaping holes for new developers to fill. And I shouldn't give the major studios such a hard time. There are new development studios budding everyday, but many of these are working to make games they have already played and enjoyed - the kinds of games that used to appeal to the majority of the market. Even the IGF entries this year, with the most entries-ever, consist of a lof of redundancies, and the use of the words "alien," "war," and "fighting."
Now is the time to shift our perspective to the possibilities of making new types of games for these new types of gamers. How about if next year's IGF entries reflected the results of these market studies? Out of 141 entries, 37 would be deeper, more meaningful experiences with a shorter play time, 8 would be portable games, only 4 would have "hard-core" gameplay mechanics, and 64 would be targeted towards females. Now that is an IGF list I'd be excited to see.
