Pre-owned purchases at all time high

Whilst the ‘green shoots’ of economic recovery continue to fight their way through to the sunlight, the effects of the global recession are making their presence felt on the shopping habits of gamers, according to new research from Nielsen.

The report claims that used game purchasing is at all-time highs in 2009, looking back since 2006”. UK retailer GAME and US retailer GameStop have both reported similar findings in their recent financial updates.

In addition, Nielsen claims that gamers are playing more every week than last year, too, with the average hours spent in front of the screen each week now at 16.6 – up from the 16 hours or less reported in the same period in 2008.

However, none of this has dampened the enthusiasm of the games buying public, it seems. 74 per cent of those surveyed stated that the credit crunch will not lessen their games spending, even though half of them admitted that times were tough at the moment.



35 per cent of gamers claim they are spending more money or plan to spend more on gaming this year than last year and 39 per cent claim they are spending the same amount,” the report added.