Just Playing against the crisis.

Casual games were from the video game industry long ignored? simple games to Nintendo wohnzimmerfähig made. Today look rezessionsgebeutelten the publisher jealous of the browser and mini-game-maker: The casual games business is running despite crisis brilliantly.

 

Already in one of the first discussions at the Casual Connect show, which this week takes place in Hamburg, there are the casual games industry crisis, said: "Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to love recession in 2009" is the title of this panel in which developers and providers of the future rave. While Dick ships games industry such as Electronic Arts and THQ massive sales declines have occurred, most casual companies almost never.

The U.S. Sandlot Games, inventor of the world's one hundred million times downloaded Simpel-Daddelei "Cake Mania", 2009 with an expected payout of around 70 million U.S. dollar bonuses to their developers? twice as much as last year. Intenium, one of Germany's leading casual games providers, since 2005 increases the number of game downloads of around 70 percent per year and has since December, week after week record paragraphs.

And King.com, the leader in online social gaming (card games, puzzle games or action games in the browser against other users for small sums of money played), reported 350 million rounds a month? an increase of 84 percent over the previous year.

"People tend to stay at home during the recession," says COO-King.com Matthias Schmidt-Pfitzner the rising popularity of its platform.

Casual games are better equipped to cope with the crisis, because the business of entertaining games like "Bejeweled," "Uno" or "Mahjong" according to different rules than the work with interactive epics such as "Metal Gear Solid" or "Grand Theft Auto." While this triple-A title in a few weeks a sale many years, million-dollar development must refinance, the Simpelspiele relatively quickly and cheaply produced, are mostly online and can be distributed to different types monetarisieren.

"Nothing is safe, no platform, no genre, no game"

Social Games, or sites like King.com tipp24games.de use to about one quarter to the player inserts, browser game provider Bigpoint how to live from selling virtual goods for their games, and the big portals like RealArcade or Germany to play it? ? next to the retail sale via download? on game subscriptions and paid VIP memberships. The era of advertising-funded free games, however, is gone: In the advertising business on the Internet wants none of the casual games makers more confidence.

Despite the encouraging numbers, and positive mood in the industry, is one of the dangers of coming lean years deliberately. "Nothing is safe, no platform, no genre, no game. Diversification is the buzzword," preaches Sandlot CEO Daniel Bernstein. His company has taken this path already trod: Instead of just trusting the PC to download and browser games, you have "Cake Mania" is implemented on various consoles. Were most successful with over 500,000 units sold for the Nintendo DS versions? The touch-screen Nintendo handheld, thanks to clever product policy is the most important casual games platform next to the PC.

Riddles and puzzles, Sudoku and Brain Trainer, the former children's console to a device for the main target audience of casual games to the women. From a woman's odds of 65 percent go casual games providers today, with the classic PC and video games will be on just 5 percent.

"Women understand the game as a habitual media consumption, it is not the focus of their employment," explained Intenium manager Klaus Schmidt, the success of casual games in the female audience. "The handling of a casual games is 30 to 60 seconds grasped", and thus it is perfectly suitable, just switch off from everyday life, without which concentration and effort, the 'big' games demands.

Circumvention of trade, waiver of physical disk

The boom in mini-games and expanding the target group has also casual games for Sony and Microsoft, the manufacturers of adult technically desirable hochgezüchteter consoles made. In the Playstation Store or Xbox Live Marketplace which can be dozens of shallow skill and action games, puzzle and retro classics for a low price, too? Impulse purchases, directly and with the PS3 or Xbox 360 are made, and thanks to circumvent the trade and waiver of physical media, developers and publishers to pay more profit.

Thanks to Microsoft's leadership in the networking of their consoles to the Internet may Xbox manager Boris Schneider-Johne on the Casual Connect shiny present figures: 125 million games have been around the world on Xbox 360 consoles downloaded 220 million hours have been with them verzockt. The next step: Community Games? User-generated games. In countries such as England or the USA can any recently thanks to Xbox users free tools to program their own games and sell more than Xbox Live? only requirement is a paid membership in the XNA Creators Club. What a little of the App Store for Apple's iPhone out of the amateur professional developers also like the chance of large profits with small investments.

And here are the small, cheap games, the biggest sales driver: "The iPhone is the next handheld console," Bernstein is safe? and the casual games industry has exactly the right products for it.