The rise of social gaming means a new breed of casual consumer has appeared a market previously dominated by those with a more hardcore persuasion.

Gameloft's response, reports German site iPlayApps, will be to try and split the two markets, enabling it to cater for the highly profitable casual gaming sector without losing credibility with the rest of its audience.

Apples and oranges

The site claims the publisher made the revelation during a press meeting to outline its future plans.

Though there's no suggestion Gameloft will attempt to segregate the two groups on mobile – the revamped Gameloft LIVE is currently employed across a range of titles in the publisher's library – but, it's undoubtedly an approach which, if successful on Facebook, could set a precedent.

Elsewhere in the article, it's suggested Gameloft is sticking by its current freemium model on mobile, which – in the case of Gangstar: Miami Vindication reworking Urban Crime – is to apply in-app purchases to an engine previously employed in one of the studio's paid releases.

Mixed messages

It's suggested Gameloft considers this the best way to deliver its library to a casual audience – a stance Pocket Gamer's Will Wilson heard back in January.

"If ... you are not a hardcore gamer that's ready to invest so much time and energy in Gangstar, then you can try Urban Crime," said SVP of sales and marketing Gonzague De Vallois. 

"You can play for free and find out if you like this kind of experience. Of course we had the backlash from the original fans, but we should have told them 'it's not for you'."

And this is the point of the proposed new marketing channel on Facebook. 

As De Vallois said at the time, there is a risk Gameloft could lose its core fanbase if it doesn't better differentiate between its casual games, and those aimed at the 'hardcore'.

"Every time we launch something, our [hardcore] fans think that it's for them - of course, because we've been mainly targeting them," he concluded.

You can check out iPlayApps' encounter with Gameloft by clicking here, but be warned, it's entirely in German.