100 million used games traded in US annually

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 30th June 2009
Comments (22) Stumble
100 million used games traded in US annually

More than 100 million used games are traded in the US every year according to analysts and account for one third of all sales.

According to new figures released by industry analysts Wedbush Morgan more than 100 million used games may be trading hands every year in the US alone. To put that figure in perspective, that means that at least one third of annual games sales in America are made of used games sales.

Interestingly though, while most publishers are of the opinion that used games sales are damaging the industry and taking potential profits away from publishers and developers (as the profit on used games sales goes only to the retailer) Wedbush Morgan reckons that used game sales are actually good for the industry as a whole. In fact, the research suggests that used games sales actually encourage gamers to buy more new games.

"The vast majority of used games are not traded in until the original new game purchaser has finished playing - more than two months after a new game is released - typically well beyond the window for a full retail priced new game sale," analyst Michael Pachter said in a report (via GI.biz).

Wedbush Morgan instead believes that trading in used games allows more customers with limited disposal income a chance to buy new games, benefiting the industry as a whole. Simply put; if you don't want to pay £45 for a brand new game you might sell some old games to reduce the cost a little and used the extra money to buy new games.

"If trade-ins occur at GameStop, they should position the trade-in customer to buy more new games than he/she would otherwise normally purchase...We think that used game trade-ins fuel incremental sales of over six per cent of total new game sales, suggesting that the cannibalisation from the used game 'push' is more than offset by the benefit from used game currency," the report finished.

How often do you trade in old games for new ones? Let us know in the forums.
Quote Gunsmith 30th June 2009, 15:00
stop working to this disposable "game of the month" formula and that number will drop.
Quote Necrow 30th June 2009, 15:21
And twice that being downloaded every month!
Quote smc8788 30th June 2009, 16:04
Why are games developers and publishers always moaning about used game sales (well, if it's not one thing it's another it seems)?

Every single other commodity and entertainment product has used sales which impact on new sales (albeit perhaps not as much as for games), so why do they think their industry is an exception? They don't seem to realise that there are people out there that can't actually afford to buy every game they want to play new, so their only option is to buy it used or not play it at all. I really can't see the logic in their thought that stopping used game sales will massively increase their profit, because it just wouldn't - if anything I could see it hurting their profits.

These people need to wake up and start living in the real world, not in their self-created fantasy where they're rolling around in giant piles on money with naked models on their private yachts.
Quote Bursar 30th June 2009, 16:49
The problem is that they do live in the real world, and naked models and private yachts don't come cheap. If you're buying used games, you're not adding to their piles of money.
Quote Paradigm Shifter 30th June 2009, 17:11
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Those sorts of figures would explain why publishers are so hot on this online limited activation DRM - I bet publishers are salivating at the idea of getting another, say, $3-5 billion in revenue...
Quote Elton 30th June 2009, 19:11
I was never really fond of trading games at gamestop.

Those people were bloody theives, $15 for 6 games??? Bah, I'll keep them and buy a bunch of used ones.
Quote B1GBUD 30th June 2009, 19:21
I buy PC games but I can honestly say that I've never sold off an old game, even if it's crap. Generally they get boxed up and stored away. I might occaisonally donate an old game to a relative or friend, but that's about it.
Quote The_Beast 30th June 2009, 22:23
I don't think I've ever bought or sold a used game
Quote supaste 30th June 2009, 23:47
I used to buy the odd used game when i was little but i don't now and i have never sold a game
Quote SMIFFYDUDE 1st July 2009, 00:47
I have plenty of used games in my collection, thanks to "BOGOF" offers at gamestation. I've never sold a game though, i'm too much of a hoarder, I won't even throw away broken games. I do buy shiney new cellophane wrapped games but usually after a price drop. £30-35 is too expensive for me, unless I really must have it, Half-Life 2 being an example. Nothing really wows me into an impulse buy anymore so I wait till a game is under £20.
Quote Veles 1st July 2009, 01:37
I sell the odd game on ebay, also sold quite a few games when I was younger to allow myself to buy new ones. Generally though I keep the majority of my games.

I have several games I own that I should really sell on because I don't really play them, but with achievements especially, I keep them just encase I do go back to them one day.
Quote themax 1st July 2009, 02:18
Recently I've started trading in some games (Halo 3, Heavenly Sword, and a few other current gen titles) to fund newer purchases. I dare not trade in my older games as I've become somewhat of a collector depending on the title. I still have my Chaos Wars in it's wrapping (it was sold in limited quality here in the U.S. for PS2).

I don't see a problem with trading in games. Now a days, even RPGs come up short and at $60 per game I try to mitigate my cost as much as possible if I know for a fact I have no desire to play through the game again, or it's online features and the used games industry is the only place to find older titles (I finally tracked down Suikoden II without the $100+ price tag it goes or on Ebay).
Quote Brett89 1st July 2009, 03:35
I buy my games used now, so cheap and the game will still work, so why even bother paying another 20 dollars for a new copy of something. I'm really not one to care for any fancy extras so it works great for me.
Quote Snaek 1st July 2009, 03:44
I don't like buying used games as there's usually only a few dollars difference between the new and used versions. I've also found some good deals on new games on sites like Amazon Marketplace and eBay.
Quote lp1988 1st July 2009, 07:45
There is one point they are missing.

Many games are in series (total war; Fallout; COD) a cheap purchase in the series may lead that person to by the next one coming out. I bought Morrowind on sale, wich resulted in that I bought Oblivion and Fallout 3 at full retail price, now tell me how the cheap purchase hurt their sales in any way.

In the end if the game is good enough the customer naturally want more and then most likely will by the next game in the series.
Quote [USRF]Obiwan 1st July 2009, 08:05
In my golden age. (atari ST and early PC age that is) I have bought a new game every week. Every game was as expensive as it is now and that is around 50 dollars (99 to 110 dutch guilders back then) for a floppy disk in a carton box and 256 colors of sprites. But those Adventure games; like Legend of Kyrandia series, Larry Lafter series, Space Quest series, police quest series, tentacles, loom most of them playing sounds thru midi on the ST to my synth modules. And later on through a soundblaster with real speech! That was awesome.
Quote Dr. Strangelove 1st July 2009, 09:35
Hmm actually to my knowledge some game publishers love the idea of their games being sold on.. the ones who make downloadable content for a fee... this way they get twice (or more) as many potential costumers for their extra content... and I think for some of the games with downloadable content this is where the money is.. not in selling the actual CD/DVD
Quote Whalemeister 1st July 2009, 10:12
What I really don't get here is how games publishers whine about piracy affecting thier profits when pre-owned games sales also net them no money....
Quote Bursar 1st July 2009, 10:21
Piracy doesn't even get them the original game sale. At least they have that with pre-owned titles.
Quote impar 1st July 2009, 10:21
Greetings!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Whalemeister
What I really don't get here is how games publishers whine about piracy affecting thier profits when pre-owned games sales also net them no money....
Game publishers try to limit these used games sales via the limited activations schemes.
Unfortunately, not many gaming/enthusiasts websites were critical of those schemes, most of the reviewing sites dont even mention which games come infected with such DRM.
Quote Yemerich 1st July 2009, 12:30
Another argument to drop DRM
Quote smajer 5th July 2009, 18:23
Used games arent worth much at such shops like gamespot
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