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If not for the recession, those Wii owners might have kept the industry on a fairly even keel. But the longevity of the economic downturn, coupled with the rise of the smart phone and the app market with its cheap games, stole much of Nintendo's audience away.
"Gaming received a massive boom at the start of the cycle because of the Wii," says Handler. "Schools were buying Wiis. Nursing homes were buying Wiis. Everyone under the age of 95 was playing ‘Wii Play.’ It created this massive groundswell. I would say the hard-core gamer has been pretty constant [in his or her gaming habits], but the big shift has been among the casual players who have come into this space."
He also touched upon the impact the expanding mobile space has had on the industry."When the recession hit, you had this massive downdraft [and everyone] stopped buying Wii games," he said. "Then, you had the rise of the [Apple] iPad and smartphones and suddenly the casual business changed from a $35 business to a $1, $3, $5 business."
At this year's E3, the videogame industry begins the march to what it hopes will be its new peak, with the introduction of the first next-generation system — the Wii U, which will be out before the end of the year.
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