Report: Used game market grows alongside industry

It has been repeated again and again since the turn of the year that gaming as an industry is maturing rapidly.Sales have toppled previous years, more Western gamers than ever areplaying, and the trends show no sign of slowing down. But are the salestrends true for used games as well? A presentation given by researchfirm OTX at this year's MI6 Game Marketing Conference in San Franciscohas provided those very numbers, suggesting that used games are a hugecontribution to the overall industry.

The presentation outlines the varying data regarding the sale of newgames versus used games, suggesting that 49 million of the 75 milliongame purchasers in the US are buying used games. 60 percent of gamersbuy both new and used games, while 28 percent buy solely new games and3 percent buy only used games.
Research shows that 19 million game traders do so for "categoryreinvestment," that is, putting money back into their video game hobby.16 million gamers are classified as "New Game Gluttons," subsidizingfurther games by trading in relatively new ones. More information aboutthe report can be found on Gamasutra.
Given the big numbers demonstrated by OTX research, it's no surprise that more and more retailers are beginning to enter the used game market; a good thing for some, surely, considering the gouging that GameStop has been able to get away with for so long.
Gamestop's near-monopoly over the used market has led many to souron the prospect of trading games in. More competition should make forsome interesting changes and innovations in the market. However, theincrease in the used game market may not tickle the fancy of publishers and developers that are having their content resold; some have been adamant about keeping used games andimports out of stores and other regions. How these companies react tothis increased growth is hard to say, but one would imagine that digital distribution will be looking far more attractive in the wake of this report.