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this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2026
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That hasn’t been true in a while. In fact I would go as far as say as the main demographic for video game ads today is middle-aged moms who played Candy Crush.
Pretty much since the Wii casual gamers have been the bigger market.
Which is probably why gaming ads don't look like gaming ads used to anymore.
Indeed. Though the person I am replying to used present tense not past tense. Hence my comment.
Exactly.
I mean the iPhone came out a year later…
The App Store didn’t come out until the summer of 2008. Before that the iPhone could play a primitive version of Bejeweled and that was about it. Also, if I recall correctly, they were well into the iPhone 4 before they even started to come close to Wii sales numbers. The 4 being the first that worked on carriers that weren’t AT&T or that used the same bands in other countries.
That’s fair. Forgot about the delay on the App Store. Still I’d say the pipeline of Wii gamer to iPhone gamer is pretty small. Maybe more on the developer side than customer.
Phones put gaming consoles in everyone’s hand and made non gamers into casual gamers.
Candy Crush, casual games, and their ads don't exist in gaming magazines sold wrapped in plastic bags. The main demographic for game sales is casual players. The main demographic for the ads is teenage boys (or basement dwelling manchildren). They're different markets.
Clearly you haven’t watched any late night TV recently.
I don't think I've turned a TV onto anything live in about 3 years.
Fair enough. The channels I occasionally see have quite a few advertisements for free to play apps.