There was once a time where gamers determined what the top selling console was. Yes, in its infancy, game sells relied almost entirely on the gamer. Ever since the days of the Playstation, well before the Wii, casual players and non-gamers entered the market in huge waves. Sure, we as gamers love our action/adventure, RPGs, shooters, Hack and Slash, etc, but its the casuals that boost the sales of any given console into the 100 millions.
Let's examine the most recent generation of games as an example. The Wii was the clear winner saleswise, yet the average "hardcore" gamer seems to have a serious disdain for it, claiming it to be the casual, or kiddy console. An incorrect view of the console, but if we look at what games sold the most, we see games aimed at casuals, such as Wii Sports and Wii Fit at the top of their charts. I know we can look at the Call of Duty games and say they sell a lot too, but in comparison to a game that both gamers and average joe's play, such as Mario Kart wii, Those numbers are small.
The same thing will happen with this generation. the landscape of gaming has changed. Why else would the XBox One come with Kinect packed in? Though we are the ones who buy more games and keep the industry afloat, we are but the minority when it comes to deciding which console will have the largest install base. Throughout video game history, you can see that the highest seller has always been the one with the most casual games. Us gamers are here to stay, but to think that we are the deciding factor for who wins a supposed console war, is far from the truth.
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