EA cuts casual division, acknowledges 'casual gamers' are a myth

EA, perhaps taking a page from the Nintendo playbook, has acknowledged that "casual gamers" don't really exist.

EA cuts 'Casual' division, acknowledges 'casual gamer' is a myth

Kathy Vrabeck, president of the former EA Casual Entertainment label

EA has axed its casual games division today following the departure of Kathy Vrabeck, president of the Casual Entertainment label, and has repositioned resources in a way that casts doubt on the existence of the "casual gamer."

The news, now confirmed by EA in an email correspondence with GameDaily, appears to signal that the video games publisher, once the world's largest, has accepted the fact that "casual gamers" simply do not exist.

"We've learned a lot about casual entertainment in the past two years, and found that casual gaming defies a single genre and demographic." read a statement obtained by GameDaily. "With Kathy's departure, EA is reorganizing to integrate casual games -- development and marketing -- into other divisions of our business. We are merging our Casual Studios, Hasbro partnership, and Casual marketing organization with The Sims Label to be a new Sims and Casual Label, where there is a deep compatibility in the product design, marketing and demographics."

The casual games EA label also included the mini-game web site Pogo.com, which will no doubt be redistributed elsewhere within EA following today's news. Other unnamed properties will be folded into the The Sims label, said a note from EA chief John Riccitiello.

The admonition appears to be an indirect endorsement of Nintendo's current all-inclusive software strategy, which has made the Kyoto-based hardware and software provider the largest, most successful company of its kind. Nintendo executives like Satoru Iwata, Reggie Fils-Aime, and Shigeru Miyamoto have long held the belief that there is no such thing as a "casual gamer." There are only gamers and non-gamers, they've said, on numerous occasions. EA, apparently, agrees.

Comments [12]

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goldberg_evan

While I still think there are casual gamers (I'm not one, though), at least this means they will put more focus onto their "hardcore" games.

Toneman

So they're still gonna make so-called "casual" game, just under a different division...

CaptainSony

All their are doing is moving them into another brand. Not doing away with it completely. Good thing though. Every year they tried to push Madden as more casual on Wii and every year they got less sales. In contrast Tiger Woods while having "All pLAy" was not pushed as casual and it enjoys higher sales on Wii than any other platform. Most gamers do not like the term casual so sticking it all over your game box was a really stupid idea. Now they know and knowing is half the battle...Yo joe

ChokaDaChicken

what the heck is casual gaming? I play games , sometimes more than other times and never considered it casual. Ok is gaming on my phone casual, I have alot of games on my phone though. Someone define casual gaming for me please

neogigames

ChokaDaChicken wrote:

what the heck is casual gaming? I play games , sometimes more than other times and never considered it casual. Ok is gaming on my phone casual, I have alot of games on my phone though. Someone define casual gaming for me please

I'm glad you asked. Casual is....how you say....Nin...tendo...Wii. There's your answer.

Lightner

First EA fires over a thousand people, then they close down one of their divisions. Looks like EA is hurting for cash and resources. Just don't cancel Burnout.

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