As it turns out, there's the possiblity that all those mom jokes are not unjustified. She may have had a hand in the downfall of our kind of gaming. Tara's here to fill you in.
Nintendo welcomed a new industry influencer into gaming’s basement. It’s your mom. And whether she meant to or not, she has tidied up the place…and I’m pissed. Let me back up and explain.
A couple weeks ago I was sitting in the doctor’s office reading some bullshit magazine that gave me tips on how to keep my svelte gamers’ body. It was the typical “do this-not that, eat this-never that” article that is rehashed in every woman’s magazine month in and month out. One of the tips was to play an active video game on the Wii instead of playing regular video games. Some gamers might read this and see a win. Gaming is turning mainstream, right? Wrong.
The Wii is mainstream. Fucking Farmville for shit’s sake is mainstream. My games, your games, 2o2p’s games, are NOT mainstream.
Last weekend my best friend and I were talking about the modern day snobbery of child-rearing. You know what I’m talking about. Those parents that one-up each other about how much they deprive their children of everything we grew up knowing. “No TV in this house!” “Timmy has never even tasted pizza!” Sure, parents want their kids to have a better life than they did. I get it. But sometimes you can almost wipe the smug off their faces and you know that some of that sacrifice is for mom’s sense of ego.
Sometimes I want to shake these people and yell, “the kids are fine! You’re fine! Chill the fuck out!” But that would be bad for the economy.
I’ve daydreamed about opening a small business, since, forever. I have at least 10 business plans living in my head. One common trait between all my disparate ideas is a female target market. And it’s not because I’m female and I think I can use gender to “speak” to women. No. It’s because I want to be successful and I know that women are in charge of America’s wallet. It’s true. I don’t want to bore you with a bunch of facts, but go HERE and read about how women account for 85% of all consumer purchases. Super moms are spending shit-tons of money on anything and everything. And now they’re spending money on video games. The industry has noticed.
Pre-Wii, the gamer market was predominantly male and/or the hardcore gamer. Sure, 40-something divorcees were collecting more Sims than cats, but they still weren’t the “target.” Then Nintendo rolled around and brilliantly executed a strategy to NOT compete with Sony and Microsoft. Seriously, I bet there is a white paper somewhere that points out how Nintendo’s SWOT analysis led to the Wii. It is that fucking textbook.
If your target market doesn’t like you anymore, find a new target!
I don’t know if Nintendo, or anyone, had the perspicacity to project exactly who this new Wii market would be, but it’s safe to say they knew it would be non-gamers.
Strategic planning aside, let’s talk basic economics. The invisible hand theory explains why the video game industry has migrated toward the present day product mix. Acting out of self-interest, the industry is investing in the seemingly quick and available profits of casual gaming. Nintendo assumed all the risk and made it evident to the gaming industry that there’s a real market outside the hardcore nerds. Now Microsoft, Apple, Sony, and everyone else are running up to grab money off the table. Sadly for Nintendo, game-changer companies typically lose ground as new entrants iteratively innovate and steal market share.
And then there's that pesky law of unintended consequences that basically says humans are too stupid to exactly figure out all the impact of their actions - the most likely explanation for the de facto cooling off of investment into hardcore gaming.
Causal video gaming gives the industry new ways to be “relevant” (marketers love that word). Mom's wallet is wide open. And Pachter blames hardcore gamers for lagging software sales. The industry probably never meant to shift business models and leave us hanging but…the industry is accountable to their shareholders, not us.
Most recent gaming innovations have been diversions from hardcore gaming:
The Wii – Controls like shit. Garbage games. (Don't forget that it looks like shit, too. -- ed.) My mom likes to play. I rest my case. But if you're a busy mom that needs to get in shape, you should check it out!
Avatars – Okay, I like to dress mine up, I have to admit. But despite speaking to my inner little girl, avatars are really just a medium to push micro-transactions and simultaneously make video games more approachable and mainstream.
Farmville – And every other retarded “ville” game that people play on Facebook all day long. When I saw so many people playing this game, I checked it out. I assumed I must be missing something. Turns out the only thing missing was self-awareness of my own naiveté about the mindless garbage people partake in to distract themselves to death.
Arcade games – Every once in a while there’s a good arcade game. I’ll give in a little bit. But there’s also a whole lot of nostalgia, cheaply made, cutesy, re-hashed shit.
Netflix/Last.fm/Twitter/Facebook – I love that my Xbox 360 is becoming the focal point of the living room. But other than tying me to hardware, how is adding a bunch of popular apps making gaming any better?
Sony Wii (Move) and Microsoft Wii (Kinect) – I have Kinect pre-ordered. I’m my own worst enemy. Trust me, I see the pattern.
A Microsoft booth dude at the Mall of America told me how Kinect will be integrated into other games. His example was gestures in Fable 3. Instead of using the d-pad to make your hero hip thrust, you’ll get in front of the camera and vulgarly thrust away. That will break gameplay continuity. Will Halo and Call of Duty start using Kinect gestures in some way to get a giggle out of the family? Hopefully not, although it might be fun to peach punch some noobs through Kinect.
Alright, enough about all the wonderful ways the gaming industry is making mom feel at home in front of the Xbox. Let’s make note of what’s going on for hardcore gamers:
A sequel of a really good game was released.
A sequel of another really good game was released.
A prequel of a good game was released (followed by a sequel).
A douchebag keeps talking about how he wants to charge a subscription fee for Call of Duty.
Hardcore games are more expensive to make, they have smaller target markets, and they don’t appeal to moms that are trying to feel like a better parent than the neighbor.
As long as letting the kiddos play Halo continues to make mom feel guilty, we can expect the analysts following the money to mom’s wallet to take notice and give her what she wants.
Play this, not that.
