Appeal of FPS genre is falling - survey

Casual games company Blockdot is claiming that gamers are moving away from first-person shooters and towards, well, casual games.

"The old concept of a teenage boy glued to a game console has been blown away by the mass-market casual online game player," argues a report by Blockdot (as spotted by Industry Gamers).

"Casual online games are being leveraged as rich content for portals and brand sites. It is the driving force behind the growing app business on the Apple iPhone, Android, and other smart devices. Whether you admit it or not, these gamers are you."

Blockdot asked 500 Kewlbox.com players about their gaming habits. As Kewlbox is a casual site it seems likely that the respondents would be predisposed to lean in a casual direction, but Blockdot reckons it's all about tracking the trends since the same survey was conducted in 2008.

Since then there has been a 20 per cent decrease in the intention of male gamers to play first-person shooters. There has also been a 70 per cent increase in negative intent. Women like puzzle games, shockingly, and most people still prefer single-player to multiplayer gaming sessions.

Around 19 per cent of male players never post their high scores, while the figure for female players is 30 per cent. Women care more about being able to win trophies, give feedback and have a chat as part of their gaming experience, while men are all about scoreboards.

Conclusive proof, then, that FarmVille is better than Halo.