As reported earlier in the week, the video games industry has performed very strongly throughout the global financial crisis, with gamers becoming more engaged with the medium. Another area which has seen a remarkable increase is in used game sales.
Retailers like Gametraders, EB Games, GAME and JB Hi-Fi are keen promoters of selling used games and a recent report by the Nielsen Company has highlighted that the medium is expanding rapidly.
According to ‘The Value Gamer: Play and Purchase Behaviour in a Recession’ gamers have increased their purchase of used games to record breaking totals since the Video Game Tracking survey began in 2007.
The survey demonstrated that gamers are increasingly trying to get more value for their money by playing the games they own more and also by purchasing used games, which can be considerably cheaper.
“Gamers may be looking to stretch their entertainment dollar further through playing games they own more. The importance of value for them is evident in the findings on used game purchases,” said Michael Flamberg, director of client consulting, Nielsen Games.
“Used game purchasing is at all-time highs in 2009, looking back since 2006. Claims about how many used games are being purchased in absolute terms and as a share of the total (used vs. new) have increased substantially.”
The survey also highlighted that new game sales have dropped slightly, but Flamberg highlighted that this was more to do with a lack of blockbuster titles rather than a slowing down in the market.
“New game sales have been soft compared to last year in part because of unfavourable title comparison in terms of how popular the releases have been this spring vs. last spring. This is a hit driven business and there haven’t been as many hits,” he said.