Britons are sitting on a £1.8 billion-worth of unused computer games – the equivalent of one game per person in the UK.

That’s according to a new national survey, which revealed one in five consumers (22 per cent) have ten or more computer games at home they haven’t played in the last six months – whilst six per cent of people claim to have more than 25 untouched games at home.

The poll, conducted by SwapGame.com analysed what 2,000 consumers across the country do with their ‘completed’ computer games.

The ‘Game Shelf Life’ survey also found that the average gamer buys a total of five new games a year – with 12 per cent claiming to buy ten or more titles per year – and that more than one third of people (38 per cent) have over £100 of unused games lying around at home.

“We are all looking for ways to cut costs at the moment and it appears that we really should be heading for our cupboards to unlock the value we have in our unused games,” said Marc Day, founder and CEO of SwapGame – which is now offering its own online trade-in service to gamers.

“If you’re holding out for the latest titles such as Modern Warfare 2 or Assassin’s Creed II, our new trade-in service means the old games you’ve got stored away can now get you significant discounts on new ones, presenting an ideal way to save money on your Christmas shopping.” 

The survey also discovered that almost two-thirds of consumers still prefer to buy their computer games brand new (63 per cent). Only nine per cent typically get their console games by swapping them with friends.