Study Says 'Enthusiasts' Spend $700 A Year on Games
 

"A demographic study conducted by IGN Entertainment, one of the largest video game consumer website networks, has been released, highlighting some figures on what the company perceives as the average 'game enthusiast.'

The study shows that these hardcore gamers, profiled from more than 5,000 consumers frequenting the IGN.com and GameSpy.com properties, spend on average $700 every year on games, which works out to 14 full-priced games. $341 of the money went to console titles, while PC titles got $233 and accessories the remaining $140.

Other statistics revealed in the survey were that enthusiasts play games for 20 hours each week on average, with ten percent of respondents claiming to play for over 40 hours a week, as much as a full-time job. Over 90 percent of those surveyed were male, and 90 percent still bought games at physical retail locations, though 33 percent also sometimes buy games online.

Regarding what makes these gamers purchase titles, reviews are influential, with twenty-five percent of respondents saying they are most heavily influenced by what game writers say about titles they are considering. Word-of-mouth about the game is the next most important factor, followed by game demos. Few respondents choose their games based on the publisher or developer, and publishers' websites and print advertising were the lowest ranked factors for buying titles.

The survey also covered game renting, noting that 50 percent of respondents rented 11 games per month on average, and that 60 percent of renters say that they eventually buy games they rent."

At first $700 seemed kinda high, but now that I think about it, it's a little low for me :(, gah, too much money, where do you guys fall

Well, I own only a Gamecube since I'm in highschool and I own 11 games, so that comes to $550 for me. Until you take into account that I got 3 games for $100 bucks 'cuz of a deal Toys R Us was running and that I got Prince of Persia free when I got Splinter Cell etc etc....but yeah. Thats pretty high for me, but since I'm a bit younger than the core video gamer demographic and I don't ahve a huge disposable income, I'd say I'm about average.

As most real gamers im looking at this and only one word come to mind... Only?

An average 'decent' income is about 25-35000 dollars a year (my mother makes, before taxes, in the 29-31000 range, and she makes between 14 and 15 dollars an hour). These people are only spending about 2.8% of their income. That's no where near enough to cut into their non-disposable (bills, food, toilet paper), so what else are they going to spend it on? A new car they won't enjoy?

Me? I spend probably around that. I generally get other people to buy my stuff, though. However, I have both the GC and the PS2 and plenty of games for both. I can't be bothered to count them and figure out how much that comes to or which games I bought the same year as the consoles, though. I'm guessing well over the 750 mark, though.

I'm also about to drop a few hundred (350-450) on parts for a whole new computer, should be top of the line, once I have it saved up. I'll be getting it mostly so that I can game on it (although I'll probably end up not getting many PC games, anyway). If I wanted I could fix this one, given some time, to keep browing the internet and chat.

Beyond that, I'll probably save up and buy all three next-gen consoles.

yeah, lets tally this sucka up:
PS2, 36 games
GCN, 46 games
GBA, 18 games
DS, 6 games

ullgggg, makes my walet hurt

I have a claim to shame... I only get 2 games a year, one console per generation, and I've never gotten a non-nintendo console. That said, its a miracle that I know so much about the game industry, I suppose...

I'm almost as cheap as Betra. I only buy games I know I'm REALLY going to like, and I stay the hell away from console stuff because of good old reliable PC multiplayer.

I think the last two games I purchased were The Battle for Middle Earth and Star Wars Galaxies. SWG sucked, and I got a refund, never ended up paying a fee either (first month "free"). Before that, it was Call of Duty: United Offensive, and before THAT, Call of Duty. Sheesh, isn't COD like 1.5 years old now?

Then again, I could say most of my spending is towards upgrading the PC. Which is more expensive than buying consoles.

GAME-wise, thats probably only about $150 a year. But spankin' new computer upgrades and new systems can cost over $1000, so yeah. I guess a lot of games I receive illegally, too. ^_^ Did I say illegal, I actually meant totally legal.

lets see... I have 32 games for my GC. Thats £1280 over three years, Thats £426. In dollars thats about $800. I think. Jesus thats a lot of money!

I don't know how much I actually spent on games last year, but I'd imagine it to be somewhere in the $3-4,000 range. Of course, at that time I worked all the time in a game store and never had much of an oppurtunity to spend my money elsewhere; now that I don't do that, my game spending has been reduced significantly. I still expect I'll be spending well over $700 this year though.

I think I'm up in the $4000-$4500 range. Yes, I've at least played all of the ones I have so far, and have beaten a sizeable number of them, but hundreds still remain to be conquered. I'll claim victory over all of them. All it'll take is a few years of shunning social contact with every living thing on the planet