Feature: 'Event Wrap-Up: Casuality Seattle'

This year's Casuality Seattle, a conference focusing on all aspects of the casual games industry, drew in over 700 attendees. In this exclusive Gamasutra feature, regular contributor and reporter Beth A. Dillon presents a recap of the three-day event, highlighting the important issues and discussions presented. The following extract serves as an introduction to Dillon's summary of the event: "Casuality Seattle, a conference for casual game developers, publishers, and distributors, was held June 27-29, 2006 in Seattle, Washington. The event was organized by the Casual Games Association (CGA), which was formed to provide educational resources, community support, visibility, and collaboration for those involved in the casual games industry. The venue drew in 700 registered attendees. According to CGA numbers in a DFC Intelligence joint market report, the casual games industry made $713 million (USD) in 2005 and revenue is estimated to grow to $1.56 billion (USD) in 2008. Relevant to the location of the conference, North American casual game revenues in 2005 were at $314 million, 45% of the worldwide total. Emphasizing why people should get involved in the casual games industry, the number of consumers attracted to free casual games is estimated to be over 150 million worldwide." You can now read the full Gamasutra feature, including a look back at our coverage of particular panels and lectures from last week (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).