September 14th marked the beginning of the greatest financial crisis of our era. Bankruptcies, bill-blocking and bail-outs, oh my! The nuts and bolts of the crisis are complex and littered by politics. The simple explanation is a problem of liquidity. As we all watched our 401k plans tank, 2o2p surveyed 100 members to see how the crisis has affected our consumer liquidity. The results are in. Will holiday 2008 be a little less merry for gamers?
Despite the bleak economic outlook, gaming proves again to be fairly recession-proof. Over half of our respondents reported they would make minimal-to-no cuts in their gaming spending. Only 5% said they would make drastic cuts. A careful analysis helps to explain why:
Age
According to the Entertainment Software Organizations 2008 “Essential Facts about the Computer and Video Game Industry”, the average gamer is 35 years old. Almost half of gamers fall in the 18-49 age range. Since our survey cut “Timmies” in the 18-24 age range, 65% of respondents fell in the 25-35 age range and the remainder was in the 36-55 age range. Why is that important? We are old enough to have disposable income but not too old that it comes from retirement instruments. We watched our 401k values plummet and said, “Good thing I don’t need that for 30 more years”.
Current Spending
An overwhelming 77% majority of survey respondents reported that on average, they buy 0-1 game per month. Bottom line, we’re not spending all that much to begin with. Further analysis would likely show spending is heavily weighted to holiday months. Our summer gaming celibacy and focus on our existing collections banks up extra dough for the November onslaught.
Big Ticket Bye-Bye
Almost three quarters of respondents said they would make spending cuts on big ticket items in their households. Winter vacation? Maybe next year. New car? My ole’ Civic still has a few good years. Another popular budget cut is general entertainment. 2old2play will be going out to eat less and seeing fewer movies. Gaming is our entertainment and it’s cheaper than other alternatives. The cost of dinner and a movie that lasts no more than 4 hours can’t rival the amortized-by-hour cost of a $60 game. Gaming for many of us, is no longer what the analyst would call a “non-essential”. We’re choosing to cut elsewhere.
Holiday 2008
The survey didn’t include any questions on this holiday season’s lineup, but it’s safe to say this year looks too damn good to pass up. Fallout3, Gears of War 2, Fable 2, Left 4 Dead, and the list goes on. We’re going to read the reviews a little more closely. We might rent a game or two more. But with a line-up this enticing, only a small minority of gamers will hit the season with cold-turkey spending cuts.
A Few Grains of Salt
In effort of full disclosure, 2o2p must make a few contrary points. First, the survey was not scientific. The analysis assumes respondents have made the initial expensive investment in gaming hardware. Also, in a frugal attempt to use SurveyMonkey’s free option, only 100 responses were allowed. For an active community of about 3500 this represents a potential 9% margin of error. We’re also not polling experts, we’re biased, and the survey wasn’t random by any scientific requirements. It is also too soon to discern the full effects of the economic crisis. Oil costs are dropping, the dollar is doing better because Europe is worse-off, but the outcomes will remain unclear for several months or even years. Not to mention, the political sphere is still just warming up.
As the economic details unfold and our wallets and bank accounts react to the actions of Wall Street and Washington, 2o2p wishes everyone a fruitful, headshot-packed Holiday 2008 gaming season.
