That’s the question Edge asked of Microsoft corporate vice president Phil Harrison in a recent interview. I found the answer pretty interesting.
I think we’ve seen in the last five years an explosion of people who play games, and self-identify as a gamer. Whether it’s somebody playing Clash of Clans or Candy Crush on their phone or iPad, or gaming on the console on the biggest screen in the house, pretty much everybody is a gamer and there’s this positive wave moving through the world.
As people get older, they continue to play games. You may choose to change the pattern of gameplay as you get a family, as you get kids, or whatever, but I think that the lineup of what we shared today [at E3] is a reflection of the impact that games have in society and will continue to have a future.
It’s not about driving, shooting and sports, it’s a much deeper and sophisticated set of consumers who are more discerning in their tastes… I think the platform can definitely support all game styles and all game designs.
I think there’s a couple of interesting points there. The first is that, generally speaking, people like you and me who grew up with gaming — we’re not going to stop playing games any time soon. The idea that games are for a specific age group only is slowly eroding, mainly because we’re getting older and — lo and behold — we’re still playing video games.
That means one thing: the market for video games is growing and it’s going to continue to grow.
The second interesting thing for me is this: older people who didn’t grow up with gaming are now gravitating towards gaming as a hobby. That might be through mobile gaming or Facebook gaming, but those distinctions are going to become increasingly meaningless.
The third interesting thing? The idea that we’re moving into a phase with a “much deeper and sophisticated set of consumers”. I think that’s a powerful idea, and hopefully an idea that publishers and developers can have complete faith in. Personally I’d like to see a broader set of experiences in video games and I’m hoping this expanded growth in users will help drive that.
Above all it’s interesting to see Microsoft acknowledge the shift.
Via IB Times
Comments
49 responses to “Who Is The Typical Xbox One Consumer?”
As far as I’m concerned, people who solely play mobile games (like Candy Crush Saga) and Facebook games are NOT gamers.
That’s a bit elitist though isn’t it. I mean someone who reads books could say people who read e-books are not really readers couldn’t they? It’s all games, and gaming is a very varied market. I don’t want all games to be made casual, but they’re definitely replacing the oldschool gaming (cards, games of skill/chance), while “hardcore gaming” on console or PC is really starting to complement or surpass film.
But there is a valid difference. I mean I would put them closer to people who do the crossword than anything I picture when I hear the word gamer. Are all the people who killed time with Solitaire in the 90’s gamers? Or for that matter are people who actually play card games (with real cards) gamers? Are people with gambling problems just arcade gamers? A poker machine is pretty much the equivalent of Candy Crush so why don’t we count all those old people as hardcore gamers?
For me it isn’t about elitism, being a gamer isn’t something I’m particularly proud of, it’s simply recognising a difference between how people play games. Frankly I think you’d have to be a bit delusional to count Candy Crush players as gamers. They’re Candy Crush players. They might swap to FarmVille or whatever from time to time but they play a game not games.
I suppose, while they’re gaming, they’re not gamers. Just like not everyone who goes to the movies is not a movie buff.
This.
TBH I think this is the reason the actual ratio for female gamers is not 48% like every other BS statistic claims. My mom is not a gamer but under the definition they used she would be as in she basically plays 1 type of game like solitaire. My sister plays candy crush and like once a year will play some co op games like mario kart, she is not a gamer.
The key difference in my opinion is someone who plays games as a hobby and someone who does it to kill time. The person who plays flappy bird while waiting for their coffee/shit/meeting is killing time, the person who is actually interested in the games and goes out of their way to play them (even if all they play is variations of farmville candy crush and mobile tripe) is the gamer. Though typically real gamers know that mobile aint worth the time and instead opt for better experience be it hand held pc or console.
Agree with everything except this:
” Though typically real gamers know that mobile aint worth the time and instead opt for better experience be it hand held pc or console.”
I would argue that real gamers seek out the best quality and playability regardless of the platform. There are some really intriguing and meaningful games only available on mobile devices (e.g. The Room 1/2) not to mention plenty of games where the touch interface just works so much better than a controller and that offer a great gaming experience (such as the MTG games).
No, people who read e-books are still readers because they’re just reading an electronic version of a story.
A better comparison would be people who read menus at a restaurant consider themselves readers.
People who play mobile games aren’t invested in gaming, they’re just doodling to pass the time while they wait for the bus or something.
Or rather, people who like to eat at a fancy restaurant calling themselves a gourmet.
Or P-Platers going 30 over the limit calling themselves racers.
Or a couple with a camera in their bedroom calling themselves PornStars 😛
Nah, they’re gamers. Just not the gamers I wanna hang out with.
Gamers play games, it’s really that simple.
As far as I’m concerned anyone who plays games on anything other than the hardest difficulty possible isn’t a gamer…
Lets get the fire started, if your gaming device can send emails….your not a gamer 😛
If your K/D is under 2.0
…
not a gamer
If you don’t have energy drinks while you game……..Not a gamer
Don’t invert Y axis?
Not a gamer
Used a walkthrough with first play through
Not a gamer
even know what a walkthroigh is …
not a gamer
Its all about console lanning for me, the group im part of LAN on a regular basis but we have also been invited to events to set up mini tornies and we have done some game launches too.
We did a midnight launch in conjunction with GAME and 96fm ant the Belmont cinema’s for Mordern Warfare 2…we had a comp set at the bottom of the screen and we had MW2 single player playing on the cinema screen. It was awesome and we all got a copy of the game for setting up the comp 🙂
Last thing we did was a gold coin donation lan comp for a Neighbour Day in Landsdale, to fundraise for the Landsdale Residents Association. 🙂 been part of this club for over 10 years now and I guess it defines me.
How do you go about it these days as more consoles are leaning to online multiplayer only with no LAN options? Have to make sure you have a solid connection for a group of players? Or sticking to the old gen of consoles for now?
I feel that with these kinds of options slowly disappearing we are going backwards. Why should we need Internet etc. To play with my mate sitting next to me?? Really really dumb and annoying
I remember playing a couple of COD LAN’s with mates bringing big screens around and PS3 or 360. Although sometimes I think it’s funny we can’t just share a big screen these days when you think back to playing four player split screen goldeneye on a 34cm CRT haha.
Double NBN 100mb connection, but our lans are small compared to our golden period with the 360.
We have LAN’d this year BF4, titanfall and forza which all require online.
But this severely limits our laning locations if system link games dont appear soon I have a real fear of this club also disappearing 🙁
Most our LANS were HALO in the past so the Master Chief Collection will be a big deal for us. Personally Id like to move forward with a new game, but halo brings the numbers.
It’s not really a LAN party if you are connected via the internet instead of a local network. Still awesome what you are doing. And perhaps if you are unable to continue console LAN parties you could move onto PC (and play with a 360 controller, to keep the experience authentic).
We are all connected to a Local network that is connected to the internet…..so still a LAN party 😛 We are all at the same location.
thanks for the suggestion but personally I don’t like PC Lans its to much hassle to set them up, I went to a RTS Lan last month with my laptop and it took 3 hours trying to get every one up and running 😐
If only gamers today shared your enthusiasm. Instead of using it to validate their masculinity.
Im 37years old with 4 kids under 12, I drive around in a Kia Carnival and I play xbox for charity….. what do you mean im not validating my masculinity 😛
Let me rephrase that.
Validating what society has deemed their toxic masculinity to be.
Just toying, we get a few young bloods like that through our club occasionally and we like to think we practice good sportsmanship through example and make sure everyone at the LAN has the best experience.
Here’s a pic of a ACL LAN we hosted at a local MALTA social club. That was probably a LAN that had the most young people and we even had some guys fly over from Sydney to compete, I dropped them off at the airport very nice guys and gals.
http://i824.photobucket.com/albums/zz169/Darth-Ghost/IMG_0193.jpg
We only pulled up one guy for over zealous swearing during a match 🙂 otherwise it was a perfect event.
I’m with dkings, how do you do it these days?…my mates and I used to love to LAN, but now with everyone onto the Xbone, it seems like a thing of the past
I see no mention of 13yo mouth-breathers with a cesspool for a vocabulary and a prepubescent boner for (current call of duty here) in that interview, I sense some inaccuracies.
I’m guessing they are still there playing cod.
I for one having played around 90 hours of Titanfall on x1 and a fair few on Forza, haven’t heard those “mouth breathers” once on x1.
Could be that I haven’t played a COD online since MW, so im just not exposed to them, but I’m pretty sure the 13yo mouth breathers haven’t migrated to current gen yet. The majority anyway. For the most part I don’t hear anything in chat on the x1. People don’t plug in their mics or are in party chat.
What 13 year old can afford a new console?
The one’s whose parents bought it them I guess.
In todays post-Abbot budget economy?
Haha, yeah with the tax changes me and the missus are down about $170 a fortnight take home. And the street we are building on that had fibre being laid there back in Jan/Feb of 2012 no longer has fibre within 3 kms of it. #ThanksAbbott
Just watch COD Kinect troll videos on youtube, nearly everyone stung sounds about 13.
Yeah, I guess you’re more likely to be exposed to them if you play cod… but I don’t. I played about 40 hours of bf4 on x1 and only heard about 3 sentences spoken the whole time.
Which when you think about it is pretty terrible for a console that not only comes with Kinect in every box, but a wired headset also. No speaking = no teamwork = sucky time in BF4.
Oh hell yeah. It was woeful. I don’t pretend to be elite or leadership material, but the lack of coordination had me screaming at the tv.
I think 99% of x1 owners found that little check box in the settings to NOT use their kinect for voice chat on day 1. Which is a good thing really, I don’t need to hear your kid/partner screaming at you.
Traded it in for Titanfall a while ago.
We all chat in private, we play TF every Monday night…..even when we don’t have a full team, so I guess we are part of the problem 😐
I’d like to think I’m the typical x1 gamer. Im not though. 30yo male, 16-17 games (can’t remember atm), disposable income, def no kids (thank frack), gamer fiancée, platform agnostic (have a ps4 also and built a pc last week).
there seems to be alot of talk about being a “gamer”. I don’t like the label gamer. It really segregates people, and fuels the idea that gamers are an exclusive section of society. Maybe they are right now, but I wish it didn’t have to be that way.
Like, people who watch alot of movies generally aren’t clumped into a big label like “watchers” or something (also probably because that label is reserved for those who watch over the Slayer, but i digress). I just hope that some day gaming is just something that people do, part of peoples lives as integrated as listening to music or watching tv and movies without having to classification in regards to a type of person/belonging to a group. I hope my bleeding heart rant is making sense…lol
Am I not reading the quote correctly or did he basically dodge the question by first talking about the gaming market in general terms and then wrap up by saying the typical XBone consumer is pretty much “everybody”?
He’d do well in politics.
Did anyone else find the “It’s not about driving, shooting and sports, it’s a much deeper and sophisticated set of consumers who are more discerning in their tastes…” hilarious? I Mean really, Xbox One’s E3 apart from Sunset Overdrive and a few teases of the PD remake and Platinum’s new game were those three, and last year was even worse.
It’s all well and good to say that the platform can support all game types and styles, but the real question is do those games suit the platform? I can’t really see someone who plays Candy Crush rushing out to buy an XBone just to play it. The value proposition on a phone is much better because you have something that is primarily your communication device as well as being an internet machine that also plays games. I suppose the fact the XBone can do streaming of movies and TV is an attractive thing for someone who’s only interested in light games now and then, but you’ll be better off having your phone and a dedicated set-top box.
A typical XBox consumer was a frat-boy douchebag, but not sure about xbone… Maybe same guy 10 years later, early thirties in a shitty job with a shitty wife and some shitty kid(s). Still a douchebag though.