According to a recent poll hosted by MyVoucherCodes, 34% of British gamers will only buy second hand games, more than half of which have said that new releases are simply too expensive. 1,336 people were polled, another 14% only purchasing new games with 11% solely relying on gifts as their main source for video games. It was also reported that those who exclusively buy pre-owned titles spend around £210 on average every year, first hand buyers forking out £480.
As usual we advise taking a pinch of salt with these findings. It’s unclear how the study was carried out, though we assume it was an open poll available directly from the researcher’s website or issued via e-mail to newsletter subscribers. In either case it has to be mentioned that MyVoucherCodes is a website centred around providing visitors with discount codes for numerous online retailers, therefore the poll audience may not be entirely representative.
Source: Press Release
Origami Killer
I mostly buy new either off Amazon or in store at Game. Sometimes I will buy pre-owned if it’s a bargain or usually less than £15.
3shirts
I recently set myself a kind of game/challenge to never spend over £25 for a game. Mainly cos I need to save money but also just to see what effect it has.
I have been surprised how quickly games come down tbh. I bought Dirt3 for £24 from Amazon two months after release. A similar story is true of Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat.
Also, waiting a couple of weeks means unwanted gifts and the like spring up on eBay or Gumtree and people are getting wise the online codes too and don’t use them until they are sure they won’t be selling it on straight away.
R4U Eldave0
I’m doing the same now. Put simply I can’t justify forking out 40-80quid on games each month like I used to so I’m now only picking up games in the £10-15 price window. It doesn’t seem to take long for games to reach that stage to be honest, especially if they are single player only (which is what I play games for anywho)
cam the man
I very rarely buy pre-owned games as I live a fair distance from the nearest game shops.
Anyway when pre-ordering you normally get the game a day or two before release.
plutoniumdragon
So far the only used PS3 game I have purchased was “Lair”, I just don’t like used games, idk why just a personal thing I guess ;)
What has changed though, is that now I choose to wait on new releases until the price has dropped considerably. As I only like to play single player I don’t mind waiting months if necessary.
I’m also far more likely to buy for PC these days, unless it’s a PS3 exclusive of course.
Snakefingers13
Unfortunately, I have to say that I rarely buy games new, for the simple fact that I can’t afford them. CEX gets most of my custom, and I’ve never had a problem with a pre-owned Blu Ray. Seems that they scratch less easily than DVDs. I don’t pre-order, either, and over the past couple of years my target price for games keeps decreasing. Record purchases this year were GT5 preowned for £25, and ME2 new for £20. And it was only new because of the Cerberus DLC.
tactical20
Never buy second hand because it’s usually only £2 more to buy new.
Oh, and I HATE middlemen.
DirtyHabit
That makes no sense at all.. Everything you buy goes through at least 2 or 3 ‘middle men’ I can’t think of any day to day items that can be bought at source. (apart from ‘Pick your own’ strawberries?) :)
Plus there are much better savings to be had than £2, by buying preowned.
I tend to combine a mixture preowned/new purchases, depends on the game really.
minerwilly
Your talking about games that have only just been released and i agree only an absolute idiot would buy 2nd hand to save a couple of quid (in fact i’ve seen 2nd hand games dearer than new ones in some places !!)
The vast majority of us are very savvy and wait a few months and get them for about £15 used or around £25 new .
gideon1451
Nearly always second hand for me. I’ll buy a new game maybe twice a year – they’re just too expensive for me.
Sympozium Pawa
Its a godsend for low earners
baldkev
I very rarely buy new games these days. I will wait for Christmas, Birthday and Father’s Day for gifts, if anything else pops up I’ll give it a few weeks and then see if it’s been reduced significantly or they have a pre-owned version. I’m not worried by online passes as I’m generally pretty crap when faced with real opponents and so stick to single-player and then shift the game.
MICKY17
I try to buy most new releases brand new on day one, but some how I can’t see that happening in the next 3 months or so. :)