Analysis: 49 Million U.S. Gamers Buy Used Games
At this year’s MI6 game marketing conference in San Francisco, the MI6 organizers exclusively commissioned global consumer research and consultancy firm OTX to study the video game resale market in the United States.
These details, provided by its creators alongside today's presentation, include the fact that 60% of gamers purchase both new and used titles, and that sellers (who make up a third of all gamers) tend to reinvest their money in the industry with new game purchases.
According to OTX’s report, the used software market in the U.S. is projected to be $1.3 billion (not including systems or accessories).
Market Size
With a market of 75 million game purchasers in the United States, OTX has revealed that of these gamers, 49 million have purchased at least one used game, and 26 million have sold at least one game in the last year. They indicate that 60% of gamers buy both new and used games, with only 28% buying only new -- however, a mere 3% buy solely used titles.
OTX states that as a result, on average, 52% of new games are purchased within their first month on the market, with 8% of new game purchases pre-ordered and 27% purchased within the first week--with owners of the current generation of consoles tending to have the smallest percentage of used games in their collections and also tending to pre-order the most.
In detail, Wii gamers purchase only 8% of their games used, PS3 gamers buy 12% used, and Xbox 360 gamers buy 16% used.
Interestingly, despite GameStop’s recent filing which stated that sales of new games were outgrowing sales of used, the company still controls the used game market, with two in three gamers who bought used games in the past year purchasing them at GameStop.
OTX further noted that that 81% of gamers who bought used games in the past year did so offline and in-person, compared to 35% in total that bought new or used games.
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