Study shows casual gamers interested in Halo 3

by Scott Jon Siegel { Nov 19th 2007 at 9:55PM }

We knew Microsoft was aiming to bring in a more casual audience, but we didn't think that Halo 3 could be part of that hook. Nevertheless, a new study reveals that casual gamers are unusually interested in Bungie's triple-A FPS, which many would describe as anything but casual.

The study, performed by the BrandIntel research group, looked at the appeal of both Halo 3 and Guitar Hero III across multiple demographics. While Guitar Hero III performed as expected, the BrandIntel report indicated that Halo 3 "over-achieved," with regards to the reactions garnered from casual gamers.

This could simply be due to the game's gigantic mass marketing push, which admittedly made it hard for anyone to not be aware of the title. There could, however, be other elements of Halo 3 -- such as the open-ended "Forge" mode -- that are appealing to the casual sector. As seen in the picture above, we're still investigating any potential connection between Halo 3 and games like Chain Factor. We'll get back to you if we make any startling discoveries.

Tags: bungie, demographics, halo, halo-3, halo3, studies, xbox360

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

horngreen @ Nov 19th 2007 10:03PM

Until they go online and get their asses handed to them. Then their 360 will be up for sale.

dan stabbingworth @ Nov 19th 2007 10:12PM

Eh, those people take satisfaction in different things. I have a friend who enjoys talking shit in the mic, one who enjoys shooting the needler, and one who just enjoys wandering around and shooting stuff. They get worked constantly, but they still play.

I play at a higher level and take satisfaction in competing against better players. To each their own. Either way, the game is very enjoyable.

zhine @ Nov 19th 2007 10:13PM

Or they could...y'know....get better. Like most of us had to at one time or another.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Nov 19th 2007 10:25PM

Or you know they could stick with the single-player portion. And maybe when they gain more confidence they can try new things, such as playing the game online.

XGM @ Nov 19th 2007 10:05PM

It iz t3h haloz, buy t3h haloz

eM @ Nov 19th 2007 10:07PM

Not surprising. Casual gaming last generation *was* Halo and Madden.

Rubang B (BRUSH WITH FAME) @ Nov 19th 2007 10:14PM

What? Who's surprised here? Halo is the most "casual" game ever.

The Artist formally known as Jesus @ Nov 19th 2007 10:20PM

yea whoever said Halo 3 was "hardcore" was definitely an idiot or something

Jake @ Nov 20th 2007 8:22AM

Halo can be hardcore or casual. It just depends on how good you are and how much you play. Usage of the word pwn also plays a part.

BananaBoat @ Nov 19th 2007 10:18PM

I doubt it's because of the forge. I used to make UT2004 maps from scratch, and even I have trouble getting anything accomplished in forge (probably because you don't really have that much power. The geometry is fixed).

If anything, it's that the ads were so amazing (especially the diorama) that casual gamers want to know what the hubub is about.

Oh and Halo 3 IS a casual game on easy. Enemies on easy can't hit the broad side of a scorpion

Sless @ Nov 19th 2007 10:30PM

See, there's "casual games" (like GHIII, Madden, GTA, and Halo) that appeal to a lot of people, but mostly still young males that aren't necessarily hardcore gamers. Then there are "CASUAL games" (like Brain Age, Wii Sports, Sudoku/Crossword games) that hit that new demographic of older people and women.

At least that's the way I see it.

Blast Processing Megadrive @ Nov 20th 2007 2:26AM

Oh, great. As if it wasn't difficult enough having to differenciate between hardcore and casual, but now I have to consider casual and CASUAL casual... ARGH!

Lone Starr @ Nov 19th 2007 10:35PM

The casual gamers aren't in it for Forge, they're in it for the babes.

Shogan @ Nov 19th 2007 10:43PM

Well I'm new to the 360 and Halo (Nintendo fan here), but the game is just so easy to get in and play. I think the accessibility of the controls, the social aspect, and the quickness of hopping in a match, playing for a few minutes, and being done is what's causing the casual boom with Halo 3.

A game doesn't have to be minigames, cute characters, and 30 minutes long to appeal to a large audience, and I hope Nintendo and others pick up on this.

Hashbrown_Hunter @ Nov 19th 2007 10:46PM

This survey is pretty much right. I know many people (who almost never play games) that always buy a Halo game when it comes out. They didn't even know what was new or different about it. They just bought it because it was Halo.

So basically:
Halo is to Microsoft as Apple is to iPod.

The Artist formally known as Jesus @ Nov 19th 2007 10:51PM

what about the Zune?

rTwelve @ Nov 19th 2007 11:01PM

The Zune is to Apple's Pippin.

See, it all works out.

josh @ Nov 20th 2007 1:43PM

I don't buy that arguement, that I see get dragged out again and again, about the iPod.

Until this year, the iPod line always way more hard drive space per dollar than it's competitors. When I bought my 60 GB iPod, I could only find a few other brands that even had 60 GB at all, and they were physically much larger than an iPod is, or were video players with big screens. The Creative and other brands only made players that were 30 GB, and my thought was I wanted the most space I could get. I have a huge collection, and I often go on long trips so I like to have as much music as possible, plus room for lots of podcasts, a few audio books, then room to use my player as a portable hard drive for programs i can use on computers in hotels or wherever (portable firefox, portable thunderbird are great), and in case i need to grab some files.

Now, I think perhaps the other players have caught up in terms of space, but that wasn't true til recently. Though... are there many other players that top out at 160GB?

mcatrage @ Nov 19th 2007 10:52PM

Anyone can play Halo after they got rid of fall damage and scraped the health system from Halo 1.

dan stabbingworth @ Nov 19th 2007 11:30PM

Yeah, fall damage is something people always forget. I'm not sure if this was bad or good.

It's damn fun to jump off a huge cliff and shotgun someone in the top of the head (and the man cannon wouldn't work) but it also requires less strategy and can negatively effect some flag games.

baby sea tuna @ Nov 20th 2007 9:19AM

That's good that they fixed those things, since those are pretty much the two things that ruined Half-Life 2 for me.

Well...that and poor pacing, ill-timed load screens, and unnecessary/misplaced physics/jumping puzzles.

brandon_r87 @ Nov 19th 2007 10:56PM

Lots of people who don't play video games still get excited about Halo. I think it's because it is really a social thing if you play system link games. And the Forge really does interest people. There are far better map creation tools for other games, but they're not casual like Forge. You can even play while a map is in Forge, which goes to show you how casual the game really is. Sure, hardcore people can really learn the intricate details of the game, but it is also a great pick up and play game as well, that is if you are playing against people about the same skill.

rTwelve @ Nov 19th 2007 11:02PM

On the LE, (maybe Legendary, I didn't get that), there is a casual game, the Warthog Launch game.

Granted that was too casual for me, I was like F THIS and made Elephants fly off Sandtrap instead

....which goes back to the Forge argument

ark_v2 @ Nov 19th 2007 11:11PM

Since when isn't Halo 3 casual?

Mike @ Nov 19th 2007 11:13PM

Well of course, Halo is for nubs and casual gamers. hardcore gamers sell their souls to things like WoW, EQ, the Sims etc...

psyborg @ Nov 19th 2007 11:24PM

Not surprised, I've always considered Halo to be kind of the "casual FPS".

kuri @ Nov 19th 2007 11:42PM

Somehow I doubt casual gamers are magnetized to Halo 3 because of Forge.

I've spent a good number of hours in there and haven't even tinkered with it...

kuri @ Nov 19th 2007 11:42PM

Somehow I doubt casual gamers are magnetized to Halo 3 because of Forge.

I've spent a good number of hours in there and haven't even tinkered with it...

Your Ad here 555-1923 @ Nov 20th 2007 1:07AM

Oh look a Spam fairy.

J/K

I like Forge, you can do a lot of cool stuff in it but I haven't done anything memorable in it. I just toy with it for example I use some of the vehicles and explosive barrels to do stupid stunts a la "Jackass" and modify some of the levels for zombie matches.

Your Ad here 555-1923 @ Nov 20th 2007 12:59AM

Is a good start for everyone interested in more deeper games in fact I believe every newbie out there interested in gaming owns or is interested in halo 3 due the amount of publicity.

Last week after buying Ass Creed I asked for a Guitar Hero demonstration and boy I sucked at that game but suddenly there was a crowd around me and one kid started to talk about casual games and mentioned Halo 3. My duty as a more experienced was to recommend him The orange box.

squeevi @ Nov 20th 2007 2:45AM

My guess is the casual gamer wouldn't even know what the Forge is, much less what it does. That seems like a much more "hardcore" aspect of the game. No doubt it has Everything to do with the media push.

ThornedVenom @ Nov 20th 2007 2:48AM

It doesn't only interest casual gamers, but casual everything. Mainstream audiences have heard about Halo as a mega-game in the gaming industry. Heck, my Color Theory teacher, who isn't really high-tech at all, were talking outside of class, and started mentioning Halo as a well-known videogame name.

The Halo series is a now mainstream reference to videogames. It's not yet as emblematic as Mario, but it's almost there.

Matt @ Nov 20th 2007 4:26AM

Casual appeal of Halo has absolutely nothing to do with Forge. Sandbox games that don't play themselves aren't going to interest real casual gamers.

Halo 3 most likely appeals to the "casual" audience ("casual" is not clearly defined) because of the massive marketing and the fact that anyone with an Xbox or a friend with an Xbox has played the game. I'd be willing to bet if they could rename the title for the test, it'd get a far lower score.

Bad research here, like most everything that gets cross-posted on most pop-entertainment blogs.

Mike-453 @ Nov 20th 2007 7:24AM

lol wut?

I woulda thought Halo 3 would be considered the most casual FPS, what with how user-friendly and easy to get into it is.With a huge plain fun factor.

JonFitt @ Nov 20th 2007 10:44AM

Halo is hardly the most hardcore fps out there. Just because it has a group of people who play it 24x7 doesn't mean it's hardcore. There are people who are that into Bejeweled.
It's got buckets of auto-aim, running-through-water/ jumping-through-treacle slow movement, lots of mash the button insta-kill weapons.
You might not win if you don't play a lot, but matchmaking will sort that in the long term.
I love the game, but it is not "hardcore".

Try something like Red Orchestra, Battlefield 2/2142, Joint Ops, or even an RB6. Now those are hardcore fps's.

josh @ Nov 20th 2007 1:28PM

I am new to Halo, but I used to be good at PC FPSes... but I like Halo's pick up and play aspects. I am pretty busy, but I can jump on and play a quick game in the rumble pit or lone wolves, and the matchmaking manages to place me in games where i do okay most times. I can see why people new to FPS would like Halo.