Sega of America president Simon Jeffrey recently critiqued how publisher Electronic Arts has handled the core gamer market.

“EA has always struggled with the hardcore gamer,” Jeffery said. “I think they look at Gears of War and Halo and wonder why they can’t do that. EA has to do something about that. They have tried on and off over the years. It’s just like Activision had to come out from doing hardcore games and do more for the masses.”

He noted that core gamers now have different tastes, moving away from lengthy games to games that can be easily picked up and played.

“We are seeing a shift, even in hardcore games, to snackable gaming,” noted Jeffrey. “Call of Duty 4 had a shorter single-player campaign and really good multiplayer… Gamers are driven by getting achievements, finishing games, and they want to consume a lot of games.”

Sega seems to have found quite a nice balance in their hardcore and “snackable” games, releasing major titles like Virtua Fighter 5 and the upcoming Alien shooter to smaller games like the iPhone version of Super Monkey Ball.