Like a lot of people, the success of Nintendo’s Wii surprised me. I thought it was an interesting new technology, to be sure, but that the hype was overblown: the wiimote didn’t really enable fundamentally new gameplay, and so the Wii would fail to become a Revolution. I don’t think I was wrong with this assessment — beyond gimmicky mini-games, the wiimote hasn’t been used for anything that couldn’t be done with a regular controller — but I was wrong about the system’s success.
The Wii’s success isn’t due so much because of its controller, but because it’s the first console for casual gamers. Casual games are booming right now on PC, on mobile and on the DS — and now on the Wii.
I think a few lessons from casual games could apply to all games, even the most hardcore ones:
- People have no tolerance for tutorials and reading instructions. Learning the rules of a game is boring, people just want to play. As a rule of thumb, I’d say if people have to read more than 4 sentences (with accompanying pictures) before they can start playing and have fun, the tutorial is too long. Many, many games fail miserably at this (including some of mine).
- Story doesn’t really matter. After years of designers trying to make games more cinematic and with deeper stories, the hot new console sells on the back of a modernized version of Pong. There’s obviously a place for story-based games, but the need for a story isn’t nearly as universal as some would have you believe.
- Realism doesn’t really matter. Likewise, games have become better and better at simulating reality over the years — yet Wii Tennis features schematic characters without arms, the position of whom you don’t even control. There’s a place for immersive simulations, but abstract games are fine for a lot of people.
- Most games’ themes don’t resonate with adult audiences. Most casual games have very down to earth themes: sports, serving in a restaurant, etc. Aliens invading the earth and fantastic tales of wizards and dragons are great for geeks and teenagers, but don’t have much impact with mainstream audiences. Fantasy and sci-fi movies, TV shows and novels aren’t nearly as popular as ones based in reality — why would it be different for games?
- Price matters more than graphics. While I’m sure casual gamers would prefer games with good graphics than poor ones (why wouldn’t they?), price seems to have more sway. The Wii is the cheapest new console and casual PC games are much cheaper than regular ones. People who don’t put gaming as one of their priorities don’t want to spend a lot on it — makes sense.
- Don’t underestimate bowling. One of the most popular games for cellphone is a bowling title, same for the Wii. Who knew people loved bowling so much?
The thing casual games have for them is approachability, but they often sacrifice depth for it. I think the key for the future will be to create games that marry the approachability of casual games with the depth of hardcore games. I think it’s possible, but it’s difficult — it’s much easier to focus on one or the other.