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Casual Connect Europe: Achievement unlocked – Kabam lifts the lid on the 'midcore' gamer

Defined the undefined market

Casual Connect Europe: Achievement unlocked – Kabam lifts the lid on the 'midcore' gamer
If you boil things down to extremes, core gamers are mainly male, and under 24 years old. Casual gamers are mainly female, and likely older than 24 years old.

But what characteristics does the 'midcore' gamer so many developers are now targeting have?

Helping to define this burgeoning group of consumers at this year's Casual Connect Europe in Hamburg was Kabam Studios president Andrew Sheppard, who drew on a "quantitative survey of a statistically significant sample" of different gamers carried out by the firm.

Kabam's results? The midcore gamer is 55 percent male, 45 percent female, offering a "much more balanced demographic" than more familiar breeds of consumer.

Engaging

But what kind of games do they like, and how can developers best engage them?

According to Kabam's numbers, midcore gamers play most titles on smartphones – the only breed of gamer to put mobile as their top platform of choice.

But the genres they're into have more in common with those of the casual gamer than the types of titles taken on by core players. Top of the pile is the puzzle/breakout genre, claims Kabam, with farm/city management, RPG, strategy and card or casino games also high up on the list.

Interestingly, rather than simply playing on their own or taking on real life rivals, the way midcore gamers play said titles is, according to Sheppard, entirely contemporary.

"Midcore gamers tend to enjoy helping others with their gaming experiences, rather than playing competitively," said Sheppard.

"They kind of just expect to be able to engage with other folks, to help other folks these days thanks to the multiple layers of social interaction we now have."

Big achievement

Thanks to Microsoft, collecting, unlocking and achieving things in-play is also an essential part of any midcore game.

"Collecting and unlocking things is very important to the midcore gamer, as is collecting objects and achievements," said Kabam.

"Xbox Live revolutionised the industry by building in achievements, and Kongregate have done brilliant things with it too."

Brilliantly for developers, there are also multiple types of games that can be classed as 'midcore', simply because midcore gamers have no shame – they're happy to try most things.

Socially speaking

"Midcore gamers are comfortable with playing a huge range of games and it appearing on their Facebook feeds," added Sheppard, noting that the ability to socialise in play it not only important, but also one of the main reasons midcore players play.

"The notion of friendship has changed thanks to social networks," he said.

"It's perfectly possible to have real friendships with people you never actually meet in person now."

But why should developers care about what, arguably, is a less definable market than the core and casual gamers the industry is used to? To put it simply, this is the area of the market where there is most opportunity for developers today, added Sheppard.

"Midcore is where it is at the moment, and we at Kabam are really excited about it," he concluded.

"What's great is that, for all the developers working with casual games at the moment, it's not too big a leap for you to target the midcore gamer, either."

With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.