Hardcore gamers are pretty easy to identify. They are normally the ones that play COD:MW regularly online or have wiped the floor clean against AI opponents on Street Fighter IV. The rise of casual gaming in recent years on the other hand have raised another kind of hardcore gamer, the hardcore casual gamer.

What was used to be unlikely gamers sitting in front of their PCs playing web-based Bejeweled has given way to tower defense addicts, completists obsessed with 3 stars for each level, and game developers who have no choice but to fill their games with countless of levels despite the selling price of USD 0.99.

With the prevalence of smartphones and tablets, be they iOS or Android or even Windows Phone 7 devices, it’s safe to say that hardcore casual gamers may even outnumber traditional hardcore gamers, making them a market segment that is really hard to ignore and one that is readily an amazing source of income for any savvy video game developer out there.

The current casual gaming scene on iOS devices seem to be dominated by indie game developers, resulting in hits such as Angry Birds, Plant vs. Zombies, the Zenonia series, Cut The Rope and many more. Some of these developers have been bought over by much bigger companies, but there’s still plenty of innovation on this exciting segment of the video games industry. And that’s the reason why Nine Over Ten 9/10 covers it 🙂