During a recent survey with the participation of 2 thousand PC gamers in the US and UK, interesting results were obtained: 58% of PC gamers would sell their digital games if they had the opportunity. In addition, it turned out that buyers of digital games on PC have never played 24% of all games in their libraries.
Another aspect covered in this survey is the prices of games, many of which are currently selling for $70, which is quite a lot for a digital version of a game. However, 75% of respondents believe that AAA games are too expensive, and only 36% of all digital games are purchased at full price.
At the same time, the situation changes when gamers have the opportunity to resell games: more than 64% of respondents would buy more AAA games at full price with the opportunity to resell them later.
Details:
- Game secondary market: 58% of PC gamers would sell some of their digital games. 64% of respondents would buy more AAA games at full price if they could resell them.
- Frequency of use: less than half (44%) of digital PC games available in gamers’ libraries are used regularly; and almost a quarter (24%) have never played them.
- Price Selectivity: 75% find AAA games too expensive. 87% said discounts and promotions play an important role in their purchasing decisions, while only 36% buy games at full price. 32% are free games, and 32% are with discounts or in promotional packages.
- Indie Game Purchases: 75% of respondents purchase digital indie games, with 33% liking the low price of indie games. Other reasons for buying indie games include creativity (40%) and a desire to try something new (39%).
- Avoiding indie games: 41% of respondents don’t buy indie games because they don’t know if they’ll like them, and 32% don’t have time to play multiple games at once.
- Finding games: 36% said they have difficulty navigating new games. 38% look for new games on YouTube, and 34% rely on their friends. 18% use Steam to find new games, and 13% said they most often find new games on the Epic Games Store.
- PC Stores: Steam remains the most popular online store, surpassing Epic Games in the number of services it offers. When it comes to desired resources, respondents most often choose a single profile that combines all the games, apps and websites they use (35%).
- Digital Economy: 68% of respondents have purchased some kind of in-game content, and 26% of PC gamers are interested in purchasing limited edition or exclusive in-game items.
- Crypto Aversion: Despite being interested in earning in-game currency (34%) and real money (33%) while playing, only 18% are interested in earning cryptocurrencies. The same can be said for the third (33%) of respondents interested in receiving limited edition items, which dropped to 19% when those items were labeled NFTs.
The PC gaming market consists almost entirely of digital releases, but some games can still be found for sale on physical media. Since 2017, Ultra has been taking the initiative to create a secondary market for digital games.
In December 2023, Josh Journey: Darkness Totems was released as the world’s first digital video game to be sold freely on the Ultra PC Gaming Hub.
