The Unemployed Life
Laid-Off Workers’ Call of Duty
Curious as to what the legions of laid off workers around the country are doing with all their free time? Playing video games, apparently.
A new study released this week by the Nielsen Company, shows that video game enthusiasts have spent more hours playing since the recession began than ever before. They’re trying to cut back on gaming expenses by renting titles or buying used rather than spending $60 or more for a new game.
So what does all this mean? Well for starters, it looks like the recession hasn’t lessened the amount of playing time gamers are spending in front of their consoles, as some gaming executives had previously worried. More than that, thought, it shows that people don’t mind spending on video games even when their budgets are tight—and may oftentimes be spending even more than they were previously—so long as they feel like they’re getting a good value for their money.
Among the survey’s other findings:
- 42 percent of gamers age 7–54 say they are playing or plan to play more than last year, while 41 percent say they are playing the same amount.
- 50 percent of gamers believe their situation has been negatively affected by the recession; 35 percent say they have been unaffected.
- 35 percent of gamers claim they are spending more money or plan to spend more on gaming this year than last year, while 39 percent claim they are spending the same amount.
- Sales of used games increased by 31.9 percent compared to last year, while new game software sales decreased by 2.8 percent.
- When it comes to hours of gameplay, men 18 to 24 showed some of the largest sustained increases with gains between 16 percent and 29 percent more hours played for each month of 2009.
- More than 13 percent of gamers surveyed said they rented games in May 2009, up from 10.5 percent during the same time in 2008.
For more information, check out Nielsen’s full 2009 report, “The Value Gamer: Play and Purchase Behavior in a Recession,” here.
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When I lost my job, and the situation became more than I could bear, rather than turn to drink or drugs, I found that I played online games as a way of getting away from it all for a while.
It wouldn’t surprise me that others are doing the same.
I had the sense to play free games online rather than buying them, though.