March 15, 2009: What Will You Be Buying?

As you may recall, we recently ran a survey asking about your plans for gaming purchases. The results were interesting, and we thought we'd share them.

41% felt you were going to be about the same this year, financially speaking. 27% felt you would do better, and 24% felt like this year would be worse. Less than 10% saw an extreme change (a fairly even split for better or worse) in the upcoming year. Given the gloom and doom media coverage of the economy, I'd say that's pretty good!
Most of you (58%) planned on buying just as many games this year as last. 17% said you'd buy more; 24% said less.
The majority (85%) indicated the price could be whatever it needed to be, as long as the components inside the game were worth it. 14% are going to be looking at the price tag first.
We asked about what you'll be buying this year. 56% chose "Whatever looks neat, new or old." 37% will be sticking with known systems, and 6% will be looking for the newest stuff. This bodes very well for us, given our 2009 releases -- a solid mix of old favorites (Munchkin and Frag spring to mind, of course) and brand new games (Revolution! and The Stars Are Right are going to knock your socks off).
In terms of where you're going to be buying from, the winner was . . . well, it was a close race. Your Friendly Local Game Store and the publisher's online store were neck-in-neck, with 82% and 85% making purchases at these locations at least occasionally. General online retailers also made a significant showing, with 77% shopping at online retailers not associated with a specific publisher. Most surprising to me was the lack of convention shopping -- 65% said they either avoided laying down cash for games at shows, or couldn't get there at all.
Over 60% of respondents primarily want new games, but wouldn't pass up a great deal on a used game. 21% didn't have a preference, and 16% needed that "new game" smell.