Is the recession damaging your ability to play new games?
A lot of folks are losing their jobs these days due to layoffs and the like. Companies are hemorrhaging money and while I do not know any of these people personally, someone does.
These recent times have me thinking about how they affect how people are playing games (it might have me thinking about other topics of course but you are reading a game journalism blog who-sa-whats-it).
These are the few questions that I have been asking myself lately:
1. Is there more time for games because the unemployed are spending more time at home?
2. Are people playing less new titles because they can't afford them?
3. Are people trying to get more out of the games that they currently own because they can afford only so many?
These are all viable questions and they are probably all true, depending on the person and their situation.
I think that the unemployed folks that play are playing more because whatever time that they are not spending to look for a job they are spending in their games. It is quite a natural thing to look for a distraction from the hardships of being unemployed.
The second hypothesis I had was if one could no longer afford to buy new games. Instead we are buying more used games and trading in our games that we no longer have any use for. I think that this has always happened to an extent but I think that over the coming months it will become much more noticeable.
The last hypothesis related to playing games differently is how we are going to end up trying to get more out of our games. Will we try out and eek out every bit of GamerScore and game secrets?
I think this is how all of this is affecting me? It in not in any big way, instead I have other financial woes which may or may not have anything to do with the recession. I refuse to buy used titles and at this time I will not be able to afford to pick up Halo Wars or Resident Evil 5. I have considered selling off some of my property (not land or anything like that) in order to afford Halo Wars but then why wouldn't I do the same thing to pay off the rest of by debts. Instead I will be like option number 3, I will be attempting to master all of the games I own. I own enough.
In reality I think what is happening is that Gamestop is benefiting from this recession. I think that they are buying up more used titles and thus making a higher profit margin from the people are waiting to be able to play these games at a cheaper price. I guess another question would be is how long can GameStop can sustain this without people buying new games.
Here is a list of games I want to get back to:
Dead Rising
Obilivion
Orange Box
Fable 2
Recommend some things that I may have missed in the comments.
What about you? Is the recession affecting how you play your games and how many games you are playing? If so, drop a comment.
Of course the last option is that the recession has oneself playing no games. I'd like to meet that man.
2 comments:
I think people will be playing the games they have more, and seeking reviews and comments to make sure the game they buy is worth the money. No more risk taking is the key here.
I know that the recession isn't effecting me directly...well, maybe it is considering the fact that I bought 3 2008 or older titles last week due to Circuit City going out of business. I'm one of the fortunate to still have a stable job, so I still don't have the time to game as much as I would like. If I were in that situation, however, I would definitely be investing time into titles I own and have barely played.
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