In an interview with Develop Magazine, Rockstar President Sam Houser says he doesn’t think there is a difference between casual games and hardcore games. Games are games and any type of gamer can enjoy any type of game.

We always tried to make games that anyone could pick up and play. They may, over time, reveal a lot of structural and mechanical complexity, but the first mission of more or less any Rockstar game is very easy and engaging for a reason – because new people playing the game have to be gently led into the world of 3D action games, or open world racing games or whatever. This is the way we try to cater for a mass market ­– but we are focused on making digital worlds that are fun to explore and interlaced with rich narratives, that even the most casual player can become a part of, if they want to. The challenge is to make a game in which ‘depth’ does not result in complexity the first minutes you play.

He went on to say the following when asked if the success of GTA proves Rockstar does not need to make games for the casual market.

The division doesn’t make sense to us; good games will usually sell and be popular, bad games will struggle – of any type or genre or style. But we still believe big, high impact games will help the industry evolve and further surpass the movie industry as the next mass-market story telling medium.

I will have to say that I don’t agree with Sam Houser. In my opinion, he does not understand casual games. The point of casual games is you can pick them up and play them in a short amount of time. There are casual gamers that spend a lot of time playing casual games, but that is different from having to spend at least 40 minutes to play a single level of a game. Not to mention spending that amount of time and then dying and having to redo the level over again. The time it takes to complete the levels of the game is the biggest difference between casual games and hard core games. The difference doesn’t really come down to the genres or themes of the game. Grand Theft Auto takes a good amount of time to complete, definitely enough time to qualify as a hardcore game.

Thanks Bit-Tech