The 2007 casual games report

An annual study by the Casual Games Association (CGA) reports an increase of investments, breadth of offerings and a consumer shift towards casual games (both retail and online). The results, which were announced Tuesday (July 17, 2007) at the casual connect conference in Seattle, WA, go into further detail about the widening demographics and lists the most popular casual games of 2006.

Unsurprisingly, the study found that the demographic for casual game players is widening. Women make up the majority of paying players online, with men representing approximately half of the (much larger) pool of non-paying online players. No details were listed about the age breakdown.

The report suggests that the market has become much more dynamic, with greatly increased competition – a conclusion bolstered by the doubling of games for major online portals in the last two years. The casual market has expanded well past the online PC arena to include significant numbers of games for the Xbox 360, Playstation 2 and 3, Nintendo DS, Wii and mobile phone platforms. Concurrently, capital investment in casual games has grown significantly, with investors spending an estimated $200 million in the last year to “acquire interest in casual game industry assets” with upward of $35 million of that figure in casual MMO games alone.

The most popular games of the year were also named, including: Mystery Case Files, Diner Dash, Cake Mania, Bejeweled and Slingo, proving that simple, solid gameplay still rules in any market.

There’s no denying the casual market is expanding wildly and just about every major company is jumping at the opportunity for a more cost-effective business model (since many casual games are cheaper and quicker to make than bigger budget next-gen titles). I looks like “everyone is a gamer” may occur sooner than we think.

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