When You're a Gamer, You're a Gamer For Life

Keane Ng

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When You're a Gamer, You're a Gamer For Life



Consumer turnover in the videogame market is remarkably low, a report shows, suggesting that when people pick up videogames, they stick with them for life.

Though "gaming fatigue" is a common enough phenomenon with gamers who claim periods of lapsed interest in their favorite hobby, I like to think that anybody who plays games will, to some degree or another, always play games. A new report from the Entertainment Merchants Association argues my sentiments exactly: when you're a gamer, you're a gamer for life.

The report stated that "consumer turnover in the video game market is exceedingly low. Older gamers continue to be engaged by video games, rather than dropping out and being replaced by a new generation. Once a consumer decides to play video games, they continue to play for life - adding to the growing number of gamers worldwide."

By the EMA's numbers, a considerable 68% of all American households are playing games nowadays, industry sales have been on the up in the bigger scheme of things, and rentals are a lucrative business as well. Sales for movies on DVD and Blu-Ray, meanwhile, are behind with $22.4 billion last year (as compared to $23 billion for games).

That statistic isn't surprising at all - it's common enough to say that games are beating movies for consumers' dollars these days. It is interesting to know that people are sticking with the hobby, though. Here I thought I'd be all alone with my videogames decades from now.

[Via IndustryGamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/video-game-players-are-gamers-for-life-says-ema/]]

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Torque669

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Apr 21, 2009
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Well this isnt exactly new news. Ever since I bought Kirbys Funpak I knew I was addicted to games.
 

Radeonx

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Apr 26, 2009
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I am not surprised. I know plenty of adults that play games, albeit once in a while, but playing a game is still playing a game. A few of my friends are in their 30's, have families, and still play the occasional xbox game with me. Gaming is becoming much more widespread, so this data is to be expected.
 

El Capitan

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Jul 20, 2009
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Keane Ng said:
When You're a Gamer, You're a Gamer For Life



Consumer turnover in the videogame market is remarkably low, a report shows, suggesting that when people pick up videogames, they stick with them for life.
or when they break their thumbs but by that point i think life would be purposeless
 

thenumberthirteen

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Dec 19, 2007
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"Sales for movies on DVD and Blu-Ray, meanwhile, are behind with $22.4 billion last year (as compared to $23 billion for games)"

Of course games can cost 2-3 times as much as a DVD
 
Mar 1, 2009
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thenumberthirteen said:
"Sales for movies on DVD and Blu-Ray, meanwhile, are behind with $22.4 billion last year (as compared to $23 billion for games)"

Of course games can cost 2-3 times as much as a DVD
This. Also don't forget a DVD/Blu-ray player is like 25$ (I think I'm no expert) and your average console is between $200-$400. Oh yes and Xbox 360 can play DVD and PS3 can play Blu-Ray.
 

Captain Pancake

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May 20, 2009
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interesting. i don't know many older gamers, and i always assumed i'd drop out of this habit eventually, but who am i kidding?
 

Sonicron

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Mar 11, 2009
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I see validation of that theory all around me. Where I grew up, one of the families I'm friends with even make a decent living with their hobby... they started a little shop that sells games, DVDs and collectibles of all kinds, and since they play something new every day there's nary a game they can't advise you about, which definitely increases their profit. :)

-EDIT- One of the players in my WoW guild is 72 (!) years old. No joke.
Don't know if this really fits the topic perfectly, but it IS proof that there's no age limit to gaming, which gives me great joy. ^^
 

Jharry5

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Nov 1, 2008
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I'm not really surprised to be honest. It's just like any other hobby; they stick with you for life, why should gaming be any different?
 

Teh_Doomage

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Once I started, it just never stopped, go through some dead spots, but otherwise, it just keeps on going. You just evolve with the rest of them.
 

LevelSix

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Jun 29, 2009
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I game a lot less these days, but I doubt it will ever go away completely as long as I hang around people who enjoy them.
 

DojiStar

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Apr 24, 2009
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If this is true, it would be nice then if developers devoted more resources to games aimed squarely at middle-aged fogies like me, although I'm not necessarily sure what such a game would look like:
Marriage Sim III: The Divorce from Hell
Middle Age Crisis: Sports Car Racing and Inevitable Accident Therapy
Dead End Joe and the Career Treadmill of Doom

Hmm . . . On the other hand, maybe we're all better off playing adolescent power fantasy games instead.
 

Low Key

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May 7, 2009
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That's good to hear, but I still have to gripe. With more and more people playing video games, why is it that prices are rising? More people gaming = more money for game developers, which in turn should = more capital without a need for a price increase.
 

Kiutu

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Sep 27, 2008
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Video games are the superior media. They have the qualities of all the others (movies, television, books) but are interactive. Watching the adventures of some guy's exciting life may be entertaining, but to be in control is even more so. (For me, an even greater plus when the character is my own creation)
They also evolve more, and constantly without changing. What can you do to advance books without making them not books? Movies and TV too. Only way to go further would turn em into games. I do not mean books and movies made into a game, but storytelliing via a game.
 

iblis666

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Sep 8, 2008
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the only person i knew that kicked the gaming habit is this guy in his 50's that used to be heavily addicted to space invaders to such a degree that he quit it cold turkey and has never picked up another game since.
 

Strategia

za Rodina, tovarishchii
Mar 21, 2008
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I'm tempted to make a "gama 4 life" crack in faux-"urban"-speak, but I'm pretty sure my intestines would leap up my throat and out my mouth to strangle me if I did.

I've been brought up with the computer as an integral part of my life (apparently, when I was in elementary school at something like 5 years old, I asked the teacher why we needed to write when we could just use the computer) and I've been playing games of various kind for as long as I can remember. I'm still going strong umpteen-odd years later, at 19, and I don't see myself stopping before they put me in the ground (with or without my cooperation).
 

TsunamiWombat

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Sep 6, 2008
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Strategia said:
I'm tempted to make a "gama 4 life" crack in faux-"urban"-speak, but I'm pretty sure my intestines would leap up my throat and out my mouth to strangle me if I did.
Allow me.

O.G's aint nothin to F**K with son, when yo an O.G (original gamer) yo an O.G. For life. Only
way out be 6 down in the ground, biatch. Represent the Oh-kami, peace.