Core firms will make mistakes in move to casual, says PlayFirst CEO

Welch, a vet of the casual games industry who founded PlayFirst in 2001 and helped bring Diner Dash and its relating spin-offs - and arguably the whole click management genre - to market.

In that time, he said, he has seen the casual games market make numerous mistakes as it grew into the web sphere - and the likes of EA and Activision's moves into the same space will see them suffer the same pitfalls when it comes to online games.

"Retailers and publishers are great at serving a core audience," he told attendees.

"But they don't get the web and they will make the mistakes we already made.

"Budgets, schedules and money are all wrong - they can't do it like a start up."

Nevertheless, he said that the core games industry still needs to "wake up" to the casual games market at the opportunities in it.

Specifically online, he said that a big opportunity still exists to capture the community essence and appeal of the biggest games - specifically, Bejewelled and World of Warcraft - and make money out of the result.

"How can you combine Bejewelled and World of Warcraft - that's the billion dollar question," he said. "And I don't meen Warcraft Jewell."

Ultimately, he predicted that casual games can spark a step-change in the way gaming is perceived by consumers who don't usually care about games - and core games firms are along for the ride with things like the Wii.

"What the Wii has done is create a specific movement towards the casualisation of the core games industry.

"Casual games will elevate video games to a first-tier form of entertainment enjoyed by everyone.

"Gaming now is, and should be, relevant to everyone."