Nickelodeon predicts ‘New Wave’ for online casual titles

Williams, who oversees Nickelodeon’s online casual games business via portals like  Addicting Games and Shockwave and its licensing business with core games firms, said that kids entertainment firm – part of the MTV Network, itself part of Viacom – thinks “there more room for growth available in games than any other medium available to us”.

But the growth will come from “big driving forces which are redefining the category and creating some huge new opportunities,” said Williams.

He pointed to three key areas of focus: the expansion of casual gaming into new audiences; the ideas of social gaming and community; and the notion of ‘games as media’.

The Casual Games Audience

In terms of the games audience, Williams said that “it is time for us in the casual games business to challenge the traditional notion of who we are building games for and targeting their needs”.

“Go beyond the Soccer moms,” he said, saying that building online web games with just the stereotypical 35+ female gamer in mind has “become self-limiting”.

“It’s vital we look beyond our audience for the traditional industry to grow.”

Williams then offered up data from a big Nickelodeon research study into casual gamers, which revealed that “nearly half of all internet users are playing games regularly or even every day”.

He elaborated: “Moms, dads, teens are all playing casual games in droves. This shows there are huge untapped markets in this space.”

Nickelodeon has identified key audience segments, he explained, These include ‘Time Fillers’, who account for 17 per cent of the audience and play online games just for fun; the ‘Gaming Enthusiasts’, who are 19 per cent of the market and are challenge-loving players; ‘Guilty pleasurists’, another 17 per cent chunk who play games to blow off steam; and ‘Average Joes’, the 19 per cent of the audience who see games as a form of social currency - but don’t tell people about it.

Said Williams: “It’s vital to take abroad and inclusive view of who is playing casual games and give the audience a wide variety of choices in how they play. Targeting multiple demos and games-related services are the best ways to succeed in this rapidly changing environment.”

Social Gaming

Social functions in games “has become a must have part of games - and it’s accelerating across all media, not just games,” said Williams, saying that adding social elements to games is key for all web-based casual games companies. “Players want their casual experiences to be social experiences.”

Pointing to today’s announcement of big venture capitalist spending on casual games firm Zynga, he said it was clear investors like it too. “VCs have been spending like it’s 1999 in the social games space and casual games developers are turning themselves inside out to become social gaming companies or causal MMO firms - and all with good reasons.”

“We expect the gold rush to continue over the next few years,” he said. “Casual games are becoming more about ‘us’ than ‘me’ for key segments.”

He added: “But social gaming is not the same thing as social networking. Consumers of all ages tell us they really don’t want another social network – they have enough trouble keeping up with the one they already have.”

Nickelodeon’s take on this is to push forward ‘create and share’ games that encourage user created content, like Pencilracer – and Williams said the firm will be launching more create and share games launch later in the fall as the company had seen its usage hours soar by 30 per cent after adding a mix of social features that highlighted the achievements of his sites members.

The 'notion of games as media'

Williams’ last point discussed “the shift to a media model from a product model” – and he said that web casual games were fast becoming a television-like channel for sustained brands and experiences, distinctly different from the traditional games business.

“Just like blockbuster movies games have traditionally been dominated by big releases. It’s very easy for us to fall into the trap, but we must think of causal as media for whatever screens you have in your house – the business is remarkably more similar to television than it is retail games.”

He said that casual games can be episodic, highlighting the success of Nickelodeon’s Carrie the Caregiver franchise as a key example – the series of games has had 16m plays across its multiple titles, which cover the working life of a nanny, meaning the lead character “transcends the game itself becomes a spokesperson for Shockwave”.

The move towards that model also changes the way casual games operate commercially, he said. “This means advertising becomes a primary, not a secondary, revenue model.”

In conclusion, he said that focusing on these key trends will help everyone in the online casual games space to help bring about serious change and market expansion.

“The three big trends will change the definition of casual games over the next couple of years and provide the most fertile areas of growth,” said Williams, adding that this also means that the online casual set will, in time, “do better than our counterparts in the console business”.