Poll results: The way you play your games

by Blake Snow { Aug 14th 2006 at 5:25PM }

Out of 8689 total vote selections, 59% buy their games most of the time, 23% pirate (either for "beta testing" purposes or straight-up piracy), 11% rent, and 6% import games. Many commenters also mentioned borrowing from friends, trades, and beating up younger siblings as a source of game acquisition.

Three cheers for all that voted.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Lou @ Aug 14th 2006 5:28PM

I buy my games

Lou @ Aug 14th 2006 5:29PM

Who imports games?

reebo @ Aug 14th 2006 5:31PM

*Cheer*

SuicideNinja @ Aug 14th 2006 5:32PM

The real question is, would the pirates buy the game if they *had to* in order to play it? Or would they just go elsewhere and ignore theoretical "impossible to pirate" games?

Derbeste @ Aug 14th 2006 5:33PM

It would have been fascinating to see "buy games" broken down into two catagories:

1. I buy new games
2. I buy used games

If you combine used game buyers with piraters, you would get a much more accurate picture on who is playing games without supporting the companies responsible for production.

I can see why so few people rent though. It brings a whole different feeling to a game when you know you can take as long as you want. Late fees suck.

PiNPOiNT @ Aug 14th 2006 5:38PM

#2 - your assuming the sales from used video games go back to the publishers, however once the game is purchased once, they don't make any new money. Not to mention how much of a mark up used games sales are sold for by the store to begin with.

Sir Stank @ Aug 14th 2006 5:40PM

New machine(360)then rent if they are stocked(seldom)and buy the few games(EB)that you realy want(GTA4). Older machines(Xbox,PS2)only buy used games(Blockbuster can be a nice place to find a low priced jem)or games that the price has been reduced or on sale(Fry's)

Apple Jacks @ Aug 28th 2006 6:10PM

Damn pirates.

fahmi @ Aug 14th 2006 5:42PM

if you're surveying southeast asian countries. "i pirate my games" option will get 105%

reebo @ Aug 14th 2006 5:53PM

Nobody finished my cheers...:(

Derbeste @ Aug 14th 2006 6:00PM

"your assuming the sales from used video games go back to the publishers"

No I'm not. O.o

I'm assuming the exact opposite. I would like to see how many people buy NEW games specifically to see how many people are supporting publishers.

From a publishers point of view, used game buyers are just as helpful as piraters. I, personally, don't really care. I was just curious.

Shaun @ Aug 14th 2006 6:02PM

#2 regarding #3 with reference to #1 and additionally #6...

I think your point was his assumption, that publishers (and developers) only see the initial sales tally. Also... *Cheer*

exy @ Aug 14th 2006 6:06PM

I fear that piracy is only going to increase from here on out.

What with consoles prices drastically increasing, as well as games themselves jumping a good 20% in cost... I'm about ready to sell a kidney for some cold hard cash to spend on my gaming requisites.

Then again, I'm planning on spending more on Nintendo launch titles then on the console itself...

So maybe the gaming industry does have some good points, or at least points that still make me spend my money! =o

32_footsteps @ Aug 14th 2006 6:35PM

Pertinent question - how many people took the poll in question? I know that I count for three of those "vote selections". Is it really only 6% of people import games, or is it 10% (assuming all responders said they bought games)?

georgedakota @ Aug 14th 2006 6:36PM

if you're surveying southeast asian countries. "i pirate my games" option will get 105%

105% is impossible

gexecuter @ Aug 14th 2006 6:55PM

i only pirate my games because i am so poor....otherwise i would buy them straight up.

Rask @ Aug 14th 2006 7:02PM

I always buy my games new simply because the difference is so negligable most of the time that I would hate a publisher to lose out in favor of a retail chain.

I still long for the day where I can buy my games directly from the developper so they can get ALL of my money.

Shadowstorm @ Aug 14th 2006 7:16PM

7. Nobody finished my cheers...:(

Cheers.

J.Goodwin @ Aug 14th 2006 7:39PM

Piracy increased the most when game prices went down.

The standard price of a new game was in the sixty dollar range for quite a while on Super Nintendo. Prices dropped precipitously to about forty bucks when the full on CD consoles arrived, and have been trending slowly back up since then.

Piracy only really picked up on consoles when people started bumping off copies of CDs. So the argument that somehow the price of games caused piracy is a load of crap.

Sassan @ Aug 14th 2006 8:02PM

J.Goodwin, where did you get this information from?

I wanna read it, sounds intresting.

If a game has the right price, the fun factor is there then we will buy it, look at half life 2 and half life 1 for instance.

j. @ Aug 14th 2006 8:04PM

I'm sorry to say this, but the percentages are unaccurate.

If I remember correctly, the voters were encouraged to click on any option that applied to them. So when multiple votes were cast by one person, you shouldn't have added the extra votes. The results SHOULD be over 100%.

So the percentages really don't reflect the situation.

Ian @ Aug 14th 2006 11:16PM

Whats sad is the people who pirate games are probably the ones who complain about lack of innovation and quality of of games when their the ones stealing from the company's ability to have more freedom to create new games.

An unkown Shape from the world beyond your closet door @ Aug 15th 2006 1:43AM

A Bottle of rum all around, ah har har har. Ye could easily get 105% Piracy in Asia because Asians can't count, ya ha har har.

Marty @ Aug 15th 2006 7:33AM

You can still buy some games directly from the publishers I think. Nintendo you can. Ubisoft you can. I am sure other publishers let you too. Everyone should start supporting that, stop buying used games, and definatly stop pirating... and maybe game prices will go down!!!