Relentless Software, the developer of Buzz!, feels that games are still falling short of ensnaring the real mass market.
Co-founder David Amor says that while the ”just for boys” stigma for gaming is being discredited, the industry still has a long journey to make.
”Videogames are miles away from mass market still, and although it’s great to see some of the recent successes, there are 20 million people that watch Coronation Street in the UK, so the idea that we’re truly mass market is not the case yet,” Amor told GamesIndustry.biz.
20 million Corrie fans compared with 9 million units of Call of Duty 4 sold, his point certainly hits home. Even with Rockstar’s GTA IV being released it won’t reach the mass market that television at least gets to enjoy. Of course the comparison has its flaws, TV and videogames have completely different structuring financially.
”But I do think that some of the stigma that was attached to video gaming is going away, generation by generation. I mean, the PSone took some of it away, it was positioned as a cool device, and PlayStation 2 has seen people recognise that the system isn’t just for boys.”
”So the stigma’s gone away, people are realising that it can appeal to a wider set of people, mums and dads are playing Brain Training, Buzz!, SingStar, so it’s certainly going in the right direction, but we’re a long way off real mass market,” adds Amor.
Yes it’s true, videogames are no longer just for the nerd-elite or boys - the gamer pool has evolved quite a bit since the reign of the Commodore. Amor believes Microsoft suffer in sales because they don’t try to broaden the appeal of videogames and their console beyond the comfort zone.
”If you only appeal to a certain section of people, you can’t get the hardware sales beyond a certain point,” offered Amor.
”I think that’s something that Microsoft has suffered from - they’ve done great at targeting the core gaming market, but they’re not getting anything too much wider. I think Sony has a wider view than that.”
Click here to read the full interview between GamesIndustry.biz and David Amor.
