Get Over the Hardcore

Stardock has built themselves a tidy little market turning around profits that are orders of magnitude higher than their development costs (under a million!).  They’ve done this on the piracy haven that is the PC, and without using DRM.  In the dawning hours, as the industry is starting to realize the potential in casual gaming, I think we can predict a related move:  Getting away from the hardcore gamer.  Trends that begun with the first high resolution FPS in the nineties are beginning to reverse.  I predict in the next 5 years a major shift away from those large budget titles and into a field of much smaller, more innovative and original titles with smaller development budgets, delivered through digital distribution, and appeasing a much broader audience than the twitch crowds.

And I’m looking forward to it.  (On a related note, Dreamfall is getting released on Xbox Originals on Monday!)