Microsoft declares serious intentions for casual games

Computerworld - Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday became the latest software giant to declare its intention to become a leading player in the burgeoning casual games market.

In a keynote speech at Casual Connect Seattle, the industry's leading North American conference, the general manager of Microsoft's casual games business, Marc Whitten, said casual games are a "central part of the Microsoft strategy in gaming."

"We are very earnest about this," said Whitten, a former Xbox executive who took over the casual games position earlier this month. Without mentioning specifics, Whitten said "you will hear a lot from us in the months ahead."

At the E3 gaming conference earlier this month, core gaming giant Electronic Arts Inc. declared its intention to take over the casual game market.

"At E3, all of the news was that the [gaming] industry has gone casual," said Marc Cottam, CEO of Dallas casual game creator MumboJumbo LLC.

Google Inc. is also expected to announce its entry into advertising-supported casual games today at the conference, which has attracted 1,400 attendees.

Casual games are defined as quick-to-develop, easy-to-learn-and-play games that are usually played via the Internet. They are supported via Web advertising or sold for a low price.

Players are mostly women over the age of 30, who typically play on a "coffee break or a as stress reliever," said Whitten.

Casual games are in contrast to "core games," which in recent years have been increasingly defined by violent shoot-em-ups such as Grand Theft Auto or Halo.

By that definition, classic PC games such as Breakout, Tetris, Minesweeper and solitaire all fit the definition of casual games. And by that definition, Microsoft, which shipped the latter two games free with most versions of Windows, is a veteran in an industry that most experts say is little more than five years old.

According to the Casual Games Association, the industry, largely centered in the Seattle area, is expected to reap $1.5 billion next year, up from $50 million in 2002.

More than 200 million people play casual games via the Internet today, with about 60 million downloads each month.

One market research group, DFC Intelligence, predicts that casual games will be a $13 billion industry by 2012.

That outlook, along with the smash success of Nintendo of America Inc.'s Wii console and its slew of family-friendly, easy-to-play games, has attracted big media and software firms, all eager to jump-start the long-stalled growth in gamers' ranks.

"It's all about trying to expand beyond the 5% to 7% of the population that comprises the core gamer market," Cottam said.

The competition is fierce. For example, yesterday's keynote speaker was supposed to be Microsoft executive Peter Moore, but he was mysteriously replaced at the last moment by Whitten. The mystery was solved when EA announced that Moore, who oversaw Microsoft's XBox and Games for Windows business, would join EA to run its EA Sports division. (Though some are speculating that Moore was pushed out as the fall guy for recent XBox hardware problems.)