VB Mobile Log In  |  Register          
Advertisement
VB Resources
Subscribe to VB Magazine

U.S. gamers play more, spend less

PHYSICAL: Used-game sales expected to continue climb

By Danny King -- Video Business, 7/6/2009

JULY 6 | PHYSICAL: Videogame players are spending more time at their consoles but spending less money on new titles, suggesting that used-game sales will continue to increase at the expense of new-games revenue, according to a Nielsen report released today.

For the six months ended May, the typical gamer bought 3.51 used games, up 17% from the number of used games bought during the six months ended January, Nielsen said in its report. During the same time period, new-game purchases over a six-month period fell about 6% to 9.75 games, the research firm said.

Consumers are buying more used games as a way to support a growing gaming habit amid the economic downturn. In May, the typical gamer spent about 16.5 hours on a console, up about 3% from a year earlier and about 15% more than in May 2006, according to Nielsen, which polled about 2,400 gamers over more than three years.

“This spike in used-game purchasing has come ahead of the summer months, when used as a share of the total games purchased tends to climb historically,” Nielsen said in the report. “It will be interesting to follow this in the coming months.”

Such habits have helped retailers such as GameStop boost earnings amid flattening videogame industry revenue by increasing used-game sales, while luring companies such as Best Buy and Amazon.com into the used-games market. In May, U.S. revenue from videogame hardware and software dropped 23% from a year earlier to $863.3 million, marking the first time monthly industry revenue was less than $1 billion in almost two years, NPD Group said last month. However, that does not include sales of used games.

Meanwhile, Best Buy said last month it would start testing self-service kiosks that allow for videogame trade-ins at some of its Texas stores, indicating that the largest U.S. electronics chain might be looking to challenge specialty videogame retailer GameStop. That company in May reported a 13% increase in fiscal first-quarter earnings after more higher-margin used-games sales offset the effect of lower same-store revenue.

Talkback

We would love your feedback!

Post a comment

» VIEW ALL TALKBACK THREADS

Related Content

Related Content

 

By This Author

Sponsored Links



 
Advertisement

MOST POPULAR PAGES

More Content

  • Blogs
  • Photos

Blogs

  • Samantha Clark
    DISC DISH

    November 23, 2009
    Surrogates DVD, Blu-ray details
    The $38 million-grossing sci fi thriller Surrogates will bow on DVD and Blu-ray Jan. 26 (prebook Dec...
    More
  • Laurence Lerman
    DVDIALOG

    November 20, 2009
    Hey Lady...It’s The Jerry Lewis Collection!!
    Jerry Lewis had a couple of TV series and a few special specials back in his heyday, but none as s...
    More
  • » VIEW ALL BLOGS RSS

Photos

  • Ben 10 premiere
    Cartoon Network recently held a screening for TV movie Ben 10: Alien Swarm, which premieres on the network Nov. 25 and streets on DVD and Blu-ray on Dec. 1. Warner distributes Cartoon Network titles.
  • 50 Dead Men walking
    Phase 4 Films execs and 50 Dead Men Walking star Jim Sturgess visited with distributor VPD recently.
  • Fans for Fight Club
    Fox held a screening of Fight Club for 200 fans in Los Angeles on Nov. 17 to celebrate the film’s 10th anniversary. David Fincher’s 1999 film starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton is now available on Blu-ray.
Advertisements





NEWSLETTERS
VB Daily News
VB Indie Film Guide
VB Weekly Summary
VB Just Announced
VB Green Report
Please read our Privacy Policy
©2009 Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Use of this Web site is subject to its Terms of Use | Privacy Policy
Please visit these other Reed Business sites