An Embarrassment of Riches

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An Embarrassment of Riches

Fri, Sep 19, 2008

As we noted earlier today, it seems like every game company under the sun has been issuing release dates for their triple-A, big-budget, must-own titles. A number of these releases are coming earlier than expected, with several games arriving in October or November rather than later in the holiday season. This is great news, from a gamer's standpoint -- more excellent games means more excellent gaming, right? Of course, with the rest of the news lately focusing on how much money we, as a nation, do not have, it starts to make us worry a little bit. Can we really afford all of these games right now? It's the same question that gets asked every holiday, when gamers are overwhelmed with dozens of releases at a time, but that never seems to stop the industry from piling all of their major titles into just a couple of months. We thought we'd do a little bit of research and see just how much abuse our wallets can expect.

First of all, what can a gamer afford these days? According to the ESA's "Industry Facts," the average gamer is around 35 years old, and the average game purchaser is roughly 40. Obviously, we're all beautiful and unique snowflakes with our own beautiful and terrifying financial situations, but let's work with that average for the purposes of this comparison.

According to the US Census Bureau, the median household income in 2007 was $50,233, with individuals pulling down $26,412. When examining just the affluent 35-to-44 age bracket, though, those numbers become $62,124 and $24,061, respectively. (Apparently there's some shacking up going on.)

Depending on who you ask, these "average" gamers are going to spend a fair chunk of that income on their virtual vices. A study published by GameStrata earlier this year suggested that over a 30-year lifetime of gaming, the average gamer would drop $30,500 on games and systems, working out to about $1,000 a year. This seems to match up with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which pegged our 2006 entertainment expenditures for the 35-44 bracket at just under $3,000 -- with $1,052 going to "Audio and visual equipment and services." This section includes "video game hardware and video game cartridges." We'll be charitable and assume that also includes games which come on the vastly inferior DVD and Blu-Ray formats. Maybe you're spending that much on DS games, I don't know.

To sum up, the average gamer is going to spend $1,000 on games in any given year. How much of that is left to cover the busy holiday season? Let's take a look back at the major releases so far in 2008. Did you buy Super Smash Bros. Brawl? Grand Theft Auto IV? Burnout Paradise? Metal Gear Solid 4? Soulcalibur IV? Boom Blox? Mario Kart Wii? Rock Band 2? Devil May Cry 4? LEGO Indiana Jones? Star Wars: The Force Unleashed? Mercenaries 2? Rainbow 6: Vegas 2? Spore? Madden '09? These big-name titles were all released in 2008, and given the massive sales enjoyed by all of the above, there's a good chance the "average" gamer picked up quite a few of them. Even if you only picked up half the titles on that list, you're looking at a $400 price tag, and we haven't even picked out any of the more popular niche titles. How much software did you purchase in the last 8 months?

There's the distinct possibility you picked up some hardware this year, too. Wii Fit dropped in 2008, for starters -- have you got a Balance Board? Was this the year you filled out your Rock Band instrument collection? Did you upgrade your PC, pick up an extra controller, or even buy a new console? I hope you were already fixed for hardware, because otherwise you probably spent another $200-400.

2008 was also a hell of a year for digital download purchases. Have you played the first episode of Penny Arcade Adventures? How about SBCG4AP? Did you buy the new PSN Ratchet & Clank? Castle Crashers? Geometry Wars? PixelJunk Eden? Braid? Lord help you if you bought Rock Band DLC on a regular basis -- or if you happened to get a subscription to Age of Conan or Warhammer Online, which also both launched this year. How much do you really spend in a month on "budget" purchases? $20? $50? $100? Again, buying even half of those standalone titles means you spent another $50, and if you're spending another $5-10 a month on game expansions or episodic content, and $15 a month on an MMO subscription, even just a few months' worth is another $100.

It's been an expensive year for gamers, I guess is what I'm saying. By these (highly unscientific) figures, if you buy an average amount as an average gamer, by now you've gone through some $700-800 in disposable income. Well, you're in the home stretch now -- let's take a look at the prominent fall/holiday releases that have been announced just this week:

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway - Sep 23 - $60
Wii Music - Oct 20 - $50
LittleBigPlanet - Oct 21 - $60
Mirror's Edge - Nov 11 - $60
Prince of Persia - Dec 2 - $60

And, again, those are just the games whose release dates we found out this week, costing $290 by themselves. Let's not forget about the rest, including big titles such as:

LEGO Batman - Sep 23 - $50
Far Cry 2 - Oct 21 - $50 (assuming your PC can run it)
Fable II - Oct 21 - $60
Guitar Hero: World Tour - Oct 26 - $60 (assuming you already have instruments)
Fallout 3 - Oct 28 - $60
Resistance 2 - Nov 4 - $60
Gears of War 2 - Nov 7 - $60
Need for Speed: Undercover - Nov 18 - $60
Left 4 Dead - Nov 18 - Price unannounced, probably $40-60 depending on PC or console

Combined with the above list of 5, that's a whopping $790 in software. Once again, if you pick up just half of these major releases, you're looking at another $400.

And that's just the beginning -- we don't know your tastes; you may well want to pick up Banjo-Kazooie, or the DS re-release of Chrono Trigger, or Animal Crossing, all of which are also coming out this year.

Analysts always say the gaming industry is recession-proof, of course, so maybe we can afford these things. Perhaps we'll do it by cutting back on our other entertainment costs -- the BLS suggests we're spending $839 annually on "fees and admissions," and another $497 on "pets, toys, hobbies, and playground equipment." Sorry, Fluffy, but you're costing me a new Xbox 360 Elite and a year of LIVE.

We'd like to close this observation with a little poll. Do us a favor: Take a quick glance through your software library, and give us a tally of how many games you bought this year. If you can, try to remember any games you sold back as used, and peek through your DLC lists as well. What's your total damage for 2008? Will you be making it in under the $1,000 mark?

Analysis, announcement, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Cost of Gaming, Finances, GameStrata, Money, Opinion, release date, Study

This post was written by:

Jesse Henning - who has written 474 posts on GameCyte.

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1 Comments For This Post

Tenmar Says:
September 20th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Hmm total damage for 2008 eh? Well guess it is a good time to show the list! I will limit this to games because I just cannot remember if I got the Wii during 2007 or 2008 but I leaning towards 2007. Yep 2007
Pc games
1. Team Fortress 2:$30
2. Bioshock:$30
3. Descent 1,2,3: $6
Total: $66
Wii games
1.Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire:$20
2.Sonic and the Secret Rings:$15
3.Nights Journey of Dreams: $20
4.Furu Furu Park: $20
5.Legend of Zelda TP $50
6.No more Heroes: $40
7.SSBB $50
8.Heavenly Guardian $15
9. FFF: Chocobo's Dungeon $40
10.Dragon Quest Swords $22
11.Baroque $40
12.Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn $50
13. Link's Crossbow training
14. Wii points $100
Total:$502

Grand Total: $568
I know it is probably more if I include the controllers but I bought them back in '07 and not '08. So I'm half way there but money does not come easy when you work in retail.

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