Core Gamers “Nerd Rage” in the Face of Industry’s Casual Courtship
By Shawn on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 3:48 PM PST In Computer, Game Companies, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Gamer Life, Games, Games Industry, Microsoft, Nintendo, Nintendo, Nintendo, Portable, Sony, Sony, Ubisoft
A new article addresses the increasingly prevalent problem among video gamers. The author calls it “nerd rage” equating the phenomena to gamers finally getting the acceptance from the mainstream and hating the consequences.
It comes down to the games industry wooing casual gamers while seeming to forget the core gamers that brought these companies to where they are today. Whether you call them old-school or hard-core gamers, the traditional target market is getting overlooked in the industries rush to bring in new customers.
If E3 is a sign of the times, things will get worse for core gamers before they get better. Nintendo completely ignored core games and although Iwata claimed that the company no longer considered the expo the appropriate place to premier core games; core gamers are angry just the same.
“It’s like Nintendo has forgotten the people who got them here,” Andy McNamara, editor in chief of Game Informer, a top American game magazine, said in an interview. “If you’re a serious Nintendo fan, what are you supposed to do all year, play Animal Crossing and throw Frisbees in the new Wii Sports? We understand that Nintendo has to reach out to that new mass market, but would it really cost so much to acknowledge the fans who have stuck with them for decades?”
Attendees at Ubisoft’s news conference “couldn’t stop giggling as the company explained why it was making fashion designer games and sports games for girls.”
John Davison, president of What They Like, a start-up that hopes to explain youth media to ignorant adults tried to tactfully put the rift into perspective.
“There is definitely a feeling of betrayal among hard-core gamers as the industry matures and comes to realize that the growth opportunities are not in solely catering to 18-to-34-year-old men, but in also appealing to the rest of the world.”
So, is this “nerd rage” a case of core gamers needing to put up and shut up now that they have more broad societal acceptance; or is their anger at an industry that seems to have used them and cast them aside justified?
Honestly, now that gaming has widespread social acceptance it’s only going to get worse. Nintendo have all but abandoned those who get them to where they are, and Microsoft are trying to appeal to the same casual audience with the “new Xbox experience” (read: Mii ripoffs).
I honestly yearn for the times when gaming wasnt socially accepted and considered something “kids” play. Seems the quality of games is declining, while the amount of casual shovelware is increasing exponentially. It’s the occasional good game in an ocean of shit now. Ah, the 90’s. How i miss them.
Epic is a perfect example, they have quit making ‘good’ games on the pc and aren’t making their next gen games on the pc either. PC gamers made epic the company what it is today, yet they can toss us aside with ease.
“Whether you call them old-school or hard-core gamers, the traditional target market is getting overlooked in the industries rush to bring in new customers.”
This premise is false. 2007-2008 is arguably the best gaming landscape for hardcore gamers in the past decade. There have been more core games if high quality in the last year than in any past years I can remember. The traditional target market is NOT getting overlooked. This idea is simply not supported by the evidence.
“Nintendo have all but abandoned those who get them to where they are”
This is another false statement. Nintendo has released more of its major core franchises in the Wiis first 18 months than it has the first 18 months of any other console. Please explain to me how this equates to them abandoning those who get them where they are. I am a big Nintendo fan from way back. I feel like FINALLY Nintendo quit pissing around with waiting 2 years between major releases. The Wii has inundated us with nearly every major nintendo franchise already. This is what we want is nintendo fans. We’ve gotten FANTASTIC iterations of zelda, mario, metroid, smash bros, Fire Emblem, and mario kart. We’ve gotten staples like Mario Party, a mario sports title and newer franchises like Battalion Wars and Excite Truck. Nintendo has recently bought Monolith and we’re getting exclusives Fatal Frame IV and Tenchu. I just don’t get why people are crying so loudly when Nintendo has better supported their hardcore fans this gen than any since the SNES. What gives?
“Seems the quality of games is declining”
Are you serious?
We’ve had more 90+ games in the last year and half than I can count. Ocarina of Time has sat atop the “best of” game rankings for a decade. In the past year, it has been knocked off the top no less than 5 times by games like Galaxy, GTAIV, Halo 3, MGS4 and The Orange Box, all games that are arguably the best in their franchise history.
No, the quality of games is on the rise. There has NEVER been a better time to be a core gamer, especially if you own more than 1 console or a PC.
I think this is a perfectly valid complaint against Nintendo but not against gaming in general.
I’ve been worried about this ever since the Wii was introduced. Lets face it people, we are a dying breed. GTAIV, SCIV, MGS4 and such are great games, but remember, these games take money to make. Take a look at one of those casual Wii titles and take a look at the budget/profit margin. I’ll bet that that margin is far greater than that of games like the above. The problem with casual games they usually don’t require much money to make and they tend to return their investment many times over (weather you fanboys want to admit it or not, the Wii is just a rebuilt Gamecube and didn’t really require the usual period of ‘getting used to’). I’m not going to poke at Nintendo (I’ve been doing that for last 2 years) but the fact is, our days our numbered friends. I think it will really come down to how well the Wii can sell software. If it sells a lot of software (which it really doesn’t in the grand scheme of things, especially 3rd party software), then we have to worry about a company like Microsoft trying to copy the approach. (I used Microsoft as my example because Sony has an entire business model built around it’s consoles and it just wouldn’t make sense for them to cater exclusively to the casual gamer, whereas Microsoft is free to do that at any time without a HD format to support and such). As much as I don’t like Microsoft, if they jump ship over to the casual side (with the 360 or any other machine) it will be a death blow to core gamers. And, about the PC. PC Gaming needs to change or except its fate. I’m sick of not being able to play the newest game at decent visual settings because my hardware is a year old and many gamers share my frustration. It will be the home of MMOs and RTS for a while though, because those genres really aren’t console friendly to begin with.