LAS VEGAS--The videogame industry would be wise to accept that gaming has gone mainstream and that "everyone's a gamer," ESA president Michael Gallagher told attendees at the DICE summit.
Gallagher said that although the industry had shown remarkable growth in the past year, it nevertheless had yet to recognize the changing nature of the gaming public.
"We've extended the gaming ecosystem," he said. "The stereotypes no longer apply."
While it's important for the industry to embrace this new definition "gamer," Gallagher cautioned against forgetting the core gaming audience.
"We must never forget our base. Avid gamers have been with us from the start, and when we deliver for them, they deliver for us," he said.
To illustrate his point, Gallagher explained that Halo 3 took in more revenue on its first day of release --"a Tuesday!''-- than Spider-Man 3 did during its opening weekend or the most recent Harry Potter novel did on its first day of sales.
That said, the industry still needs to "welcome new gamers. We need to make games easier, and more accessible." The best way to do that, he suggested, was to make easier, shorter games with less complicated control schemes.
"It's also very important that we change what we say relative to parents." More than half of Americans play games with their children, said Gallager. "Parents are our partners in the growth of this industry."
It would also be in the gaming industry's best interests to change gaming's image as a couch potato activity. Games that use active play like Dance Dance Revolution are "another trend we need to embrace."
Gallagher also suggested that the videogame console could take on the role in women's fitness that was once occupied by the VCR and Jane Fonda tapes.
Before leaving, Gallagher urged attendees to take an active role in defending the industry from those who would lay "everything from violence to obesity" at its doorstep by joining the Video Game Voters Network.
"Be helpful, have your voice heard," he said.
ESA's Michael Gallagher: 'Everyone's A Gamer' | Game | Life from Wired.com
