Mark Androvich
08:00 (BST)
24/04/2008
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Videogames still "miles away" from mass market, says Amor
Relentless Software's co-founder David Amor doesn't think that this is the generation that will make the transition from games console to a wider entertainment device.
"Videogames [are] miles away from mass market still, and although it's great to see some of the recent successes, there are 20 million people that watch Coronation Street in the UK - so the idea that we're truly mass market - it's not the case yet," he told GamesIndustry.biz.
Relentless knows a bit about the widening audience for videogames, having developed the Buzz franchise for Sony - a million-selling franchise which will soon be coming to the PS3.
But even if the current generation of consoles doesn't make the transition, Amor believes that some of the stigma attached to videogaming is going away generation by generation.
"I mean, the PSOne took some of it away, it was positioned as a cool device, and PlayStation 2 has seen people recognise that the system isn't just for boys," he said.
"So the stigma's gone away, people are realising that it can appeal to a wider set of people, mums and dads are playing Brain Training, Buzz!, SingStar, so it's certainly going in the right direction, but we're a long way off real mass market.
Amor says that his company' relationship with Sony rules them out of developing a Wii game in the near future, but he thinks there are still opportunities on the Sony platform to reach a similar demographic.
"I think the fact that it was a more expensive machine than the Wii means that initially it's not necessarily the same demographic that we're targeting, but I think the way that Sony has foreseen it is that they need more than first-person shooters to appeal to a wide demographic," he explained.
"If you only appeal to a certain section of people, you can't get the hardware sales beyond a certain point.
"I think that's something that Microsoft has suffered from - they've done great at targeting the core gaming market, but they're not getting anything too much wider. I think Sony has a wider view than that."
The entire interview with David Amor can now be read here.
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