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Kotaku
With mainstream video game release budgets creeping well over $20 million, developers and publishers can take solace in the fact that casual games are cheap and less time consuming to produce. Right? Wrong.
Popcap Games newest, Bookworm Adventures, cost the company some $700,000 and 2 1/2 years to produce. That's a big chunk of cash, but with the segment (mostly 30 and older, female, married) expected to spend some $953 million on casual games this year alone, it sounds like a sound investment.
While Bookworm Adventures might be an atypical release, it shows that the market is growing and being taken seriously by publishers and investors. It will be interesting to see how the segment raised on Bejeweled survives and what impact it has on mainstream gamers. I'm assuming it means the hardcore will have to buy back up consoles and PC's when their mothers and/or girlfriends start dominating the machines.
Casual games go upscale [CNN]
