shareware game market serving different clients (Score 1)

I'm actually going the other way around right now with my game Aargon, porting it from PC to Mac and PDA platforms. I guess I'll see later this year whether it was worth it and how those platforms differ. It's definitely a smaller audience on the Mac, but then there's less competition. The thing with the shareware game market in particular, and why it's definitely not dead, is that it's serving a type of player that isn't being catered very well to by the major retail companies. A lot of the more successful shareware game companies focus on puzzle oriented, easy to access, casual games that appeal to a different audience than the counter strike crowd. No matter how slick doom 3 is my Mom won't play it but she might buy a mahjongg game or a nicer version solitaire. There are of course a few nice shareware hardcore game titles like space tripper, or ultra assault that are probably selling well, but casual games are definitely leading that market right now. If you look at what something a game portal like realarcade sells, it's all click and match colors, or mahjongg or word games etc... Successful shareware games are filling niches that the major retail companies avoid. One example of a good company along those lines is popcap software, who are known for their pda hit bejewled.