The Casual Gaming Industry is Booming

I have seen my wife playing some easy-going games on the internet a few times. At first sight, I expected these games to represent a small niche market. But after digging a bit deeper in this, it seems that these “casual games” represent a rapidly growing industry, which is expected to reach $1.1 billion in sales by 2013.

Casual games generally have simple graphics, rules and controls and are quick-to-learn. Typical casual games are board, puzzle and hidden-object games, although there are also many other genres. Well known publishers and developers are Zylom, Funny Games and GameHouse.

The popular game “Pizza Chef” by Playful Age:

What makes the casual gaming industry interesting is the favorable demographics of its players. Traditional computer games are generally played by young boys/men. In contrast, about 75% of the casual gamers are women and the majority are between 25 to 54 years old. More than half of the gamers have a household income of over $50,000, 40% are college-educated and over 60% are married.

Another popular game “Build-a-lot 4” by HipSoft:

This demographic group is generally considered interesting because of its relatively higher spending power and its influence on household spending. It has been notoriously difficult for advertisers to reach this group via the internet. Both traditional and in-game advertising is therefore said to account for a substantial part of the revenue stream in the casual gaming industry.