It’s a mark of how buoyant gaming culture has become that there’s now little differentiation between the games played by those one-time extreme player definitions, the casual and the hardcore. From SingStar to Wii Sports, Buzz! to Wii Fit, not to mention Nintendogs, Bejeweled and Peggle, there may be be fewer of the old core ten-to-25-year-old males playing, but they’re still significant. And girls under ten or women over 35 play just as frequently, and with as much commitment. (Significantly, casual players don’t play hardcore games: that part of the conventional wisdom is still being maintained.)

It’s a change that’s being reflected on the margins of the middleware market too. Technology that once upon a time would have been considered somehow not hardcore enough is competing with the big boys of game engine licensing. You could argue that the transformation is now, in part, powered in this way as the one-time providers of tools for casual game development slowly move into the main PC, online and console markets, bringing their clients with them.

One good example is Danish outfit Unity Technologies. Starting out in the traditional manner were two technology students trying to make their first game. Trained in proper software development techniques, they planned well, beginning on the tools they would need to create their masterpiece. But somewhere along the line, they discovered that making tools was more exciting than making their game. Combined with what CEO David Helgason calls “a big gaping hole in the web market,” their efforts quickly coalesced into Unity.

Originally launched as a Mac-based integrated creation tool and game engine for games that worked with a browser-based plug-in, it sat firmly in the same space as technologies such as Director and other Flash-based tools. Coming from a tiny upstart company, it was vital Unity worked as simply as possible, at least for gamers. The 3MB plug-in worked with all browsers and, crucially, didn’t require you to reload your webpage, much less restart your browser or enter any registration details. Additional streaming functionality allowed for the further reduction of load times; something given away by the overall high quality of the graphics. The final key was the pricing: a $200 indie licence per seat for companies with turnover of less than $100,000; a $1,600 pro licence; or the most expensive $2,000 licence, which also includes an integrated version control server.