The casual gaming market reaped over 2.25 billion dollars in revenue in 2007. And this is just a bottom of the bottom line expected for this year’s casual gaming industry.

A casual game is “a stand alone entertainment software title that is digitally distributed by one or many ‘portals’, or independently owned Internet retail sites”. Like traditional board games, a casual game is picked up by a group of individuals. If they like it, they pass it on—through forums, through blogs, through Facebook or other social networks, and through on and offline conversation.

Producers love casual games because they offer a number of ways to identify and engage with a consumer demographic. Put a casual game on a website to increase return traffic to the site. Play viral ad videos between game levels or while a game is downloading. Use a game to promote a product, display a potential service, or highlight a brand. Games let consumers practice and review a product, a brand, or service, giving producers insight into what their consumers like and dislike.

Users love casual games. Casual games offer users try-before-they-buy trials for bigger, more expensive games and applications. Users play games that let them interact with their favourite books, TV shows, and social networks. Users use casual games to improve time management skills, brain train, practice for offline games (from poker to chess), and generally waste time.

The newest demographic to either stimulate or exacerbate the casual game trend is the female user. Casual girl gamers have given games some of their best word of mouth. It’s about time that the big game companies took notice. And the industry is doing its best to attract the young ladies; games sporting cute ponies, puppies, and dancing abound in new releases. Ubisoft is cashing in on the girl gamers transitioning from cute to college and even corporate, producing games like My SAT Coach, my Spanish Coach, and My Weight Loss Coach. Casual games generated around 25 percent of Ubisoft’s full revenue last year, five percent more than expected. Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony are jumping into the market, trying to cultivate a consumer base with women of all ages and interests.

As the generation of girls that grew up with the Internet begins to raise daughters, the online gaming world is made up more and more of social entertainment networks. The communities of online ladies dish about games, game sites, and game graphics. They talk about what makes a game worth the time it takes to download or play it. In forums, blogs, and discussion boards, women pass on sites and names, recommending their favourites and criticizing the games that could be better.

For example, Attentio’s software notes that French women fawn over word games, while many North American ladies want games that simulate office skills. Wives want games that they can play with their families and Moms want games that stimulate and hone their children’s academic abilities. Each network is a community, and each community cultivates its own network of games and online entertainment through online conversation—through buzz.

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