Looking for where to focus any new casual gaming projects on? Then the latest survey (this one from Parks Associates ) can help. Bottom line is the majority of casual gamers are interested in Puzzles and Card Games, some 55%, with word and arcade games at 32% and 33% respectively. This compares to 'portable gamers' (eg the PSP and DS users) who almost equally look for Sports, Action, Driving and First Person Shooters for their kicks.
Read on in the full article.
Interesting survey, and it's probably right that casual gamers tend to be interested in puzzle and card games.
But where would Nintendogs and all its clones be placed? They don't fit into any of those categories, yet they're amongst the biggest-selling portable games nowadays, especially among casual gamers. Where would the Sims or Cooking Mama or Animal Crossing go?
@Krisse
I think you forgot the main user base of those games: little girls. the ones who get their games from daddy, who is fine with buying DS games for his sunshine but I just can't see him buying mobile games as well.
comparing DS needs to mobile games needs is fairly pointless in my opinion because DS owners are just a really small part of the mobile phone gamers, in fact the ones having a DS are probably unlikely to buy mobile games too since they already have something in their pockets to play with.
more and more mobile games should aim to please grown ups sitting in commute, waiting in queues etc, rather than kids who are either out there with friends or at home playing with something much more suitable than mobile phones.
the other interesting comparison would be the NGage 2 line-up and the results of this poll. it would help to predict the success of this long awaited platform. I mean the whole point of making NGage2 a platform and not a device was that people other than the hardcore gamers would be able to play the games. although with the current number of supported phones (out of the ones with similar specification) is not much of a difference, is it *sarcastic*