Provided it works, a pre-owned game is the same thing as a new game. As in, itās the same game. So why do people still prefer new games, when used ones are cheaper?
Research company Cowen and Company decided to go and find out, asking 1,300 people (of which 1,001 were gamers) what their motivations were in order to break down purchasing decisions into cold, hard statistics.
Unsurprisingly, one of the most common reasons people opted for new games over used ones (with 54 percent of respondents choosing this as a motivator) was the fact they simply wanted a fresh copy, one without fingerprints or scratches on the disc or a busted cover.
Another popular response was ātimelinessā, 49 percent of gamers wanting a game on the day it came out, not a day later down the line when people start trading it in.
Other motivators were āI want to access bonus contentā (26 percent) and āI want to get a collectorās edition of the gameā (20 percent).
Interestingly, though, 70 percent of respondents ā the biggest result by far ā said theyāll buy a game new if they āplan on playing it for a long timeā. Cowenās Doug Creutz explains this seemingly bizarre behaviour, saying āWe suspect there is a behavioral psychology factor at work, where gamers have an easier time justifying the higher price of a new game if they expect to get more use/value out of it, even though the utility of new vs. used on that basis isnāt any differentā.
Survey: What Makes Players Choose New Games Instead Of Used? [Gamasutra]
