Write off ‘light’ gaming at your peril

Just because the delivery mechanism to something like iPhone and other download devices is easy does not mean the games it offers are light, shallow experiences.

This is something the core games industry still hasn’t got its head around, despite the casual bubble of recent years.

The devotion given to the likes of Angry Birds or Flight Control certainly doesn’t characterise it as ‘light’ or ‘casual’. Hours and hours of gameplay, trying to best high-scores… whether you are a specialist press journo or the presenter of This Morning, that’s a ‘hardcore’ play pattern.

Angry Birds specifically has sold more units than Red Dead Redemption. It was oddly overlooked at the Golden Joysticks last week, but it’s certainly not been ignored by consumers.

Our industry, a world built on compelling experiences, should be embracing this kind of pop culture explosion, not pushing it away into a ghetto.