Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Recession Trend: Video Gamers Playing More Than Ever

by Caleb Johnson on July 7, 2009 at 02:47 PM

Gamers might be a little lighter in their wallets these days, but that's not stopping them from playing till their fingers fall off. Not only are gamers spending more time in front of the television, they're getting more bang for their buck, too.

A recent Nielsen study, called 'The Value Gamer: Play and Purchase Behavior in a Recession,' found that the number of hours people have spent playing video games this year is higher than ever before. Starting in 2007, this trend, says Nielsen, might have even been accelerated by the recession because people are looking to get the most out of games they've purchased. Also, the study suggests that the rise of games with plenty of mainstream appeal (e.g. 'Guitar Hero' and 'Wii Fit') has contributed to this increase -- more people using games as a means of social interaction.

Another interesting finding shows that used games are gunning for new ones on the sales charts -- expensive, freshly plastic-wrapped games are looking less and less appealing compared to their cheaper, dinged-up (but just as fun) brethren. Similarly, Nielsen points to a rise in subscriptions to video game rental services as contributing to the decline of new game purchases.

Leave it to gamers to find ways to stretch a dollar during rough times. With Best Buy and Wal-Mart both looking to get into the used game market, don't expect this trend to change anytime soon. Good thing, too. You're going to need those few bucks you save on games to pay that more expensive power bill. [From: Nielsen, via Joystiq]

Tags: economy, gamers, nielsen, recession, study, top, used games, UsedGames, video games, VideoGames

Comments

3

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular