Existing Game Library
In terms of claimed games purchased, an increase is evident from September 2009 through May of 2010, which has been driven by used game purchasing. The table at right illustrates that claimed used game purchases have picked up in 2010, and this has increasingly come at the expense of new games when looked at as a share of the total. Consumer claims are typically over-stated versus actual activity, but analyzing this data in the context of longitudinal trends makes it relevant. In terms of the segments driving this increase, males 18 to 24, males 35+ and females 13 to 17 had some of the largest gains with monthly increases of over 50% compared to last year. The games purchased used ratio has been at or near all-time highs for 2010 looking back to 2007.
Indeed, the retailer GameStop, which is well known for its used-game marketplace, had its best quarter ever in terms of sales and earnings in the first quarter of 2010 on the strength of used game purchases. Sales of used games increased by 32% compared to last year while new game software sales decreased by 2.9%. Perhaps prompted by these results, other video game retailers like Best Buy and Walmart are beginning to experiment with selling used games through kiosks. This spike in used game purchasing has come ahead of the summer months, when used
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On this metric, the share of gamers claiming to subscribe to a video game rental service has risen slightly of late. This is an indication that some substitution may be occurring. Specific in-market data was unavailable, but two of the biggest players in the game rental business, Blockbuster and GameFly, seem to be betting that this market has room to grow. Blockbuster announced in February that it was adding games to its Total Access mail subscription service and is set to launch a pilot of the program this