‘OMG!’ says Trip Hawkins

Offering an overview of the history of games, by tracking the course of computer science, the games industry within that, and then casual games within that, Hawkins proposed that a new kind of games-savvy consumer was on the rise, one that consumed games in a variety of ways, but was ‘supercasual’.

Spurred by online services, social networks and disruptive hardware platforms like iPhone and Wii, these ‘Omni Media Gamers’ will equally disrupt the games industry via their actions and preferences, he said.

“We are moving into the era of Omni Media,” explained Hawkins. “What is enabling it is personal devices, online platforms and network media. You can’t call the games on these platforms as ‘casual’, as that is already a strict genre.

“Industries tend to get too focus on their traditional customers and get tuned into that customer very closely – that’s happened with casual,” he added, explaining that OMGs were driven by their need to chose when they do and don’t participate in a medium such as games – not when a developer or platform holder says so.

“And existing business models are not serving everyone,” he added, saying that OMGs will migrate to the business models that serve them best. “Another form of disruption is that consumers will start asking ‘why should I play for the games’. It will become easier to grow audiences with free games and letting them buy items.”