While a gaming PC may cost greater than an equal sport console (a lot extra, if you’d like sufficient energy to run new video games on the highest visible constancy), it can save you some huge cash on the video games themselves for those who’re aware. And most PC players do, in accordance with a brand new shopper survey. The knowledge says that solely a couple of third of gamers on the PC will purchase a sport at its full, preliminary retail value (stretching into $70 USD for AAA video games at this level) whereas the remainder will await a sale or a bundle.

The knowledge comes from a shopper survey carried out by secondary market Ultra and Atomik Research. According to mixture solutions from 2,000 PC players, solely 36 % of them will purchase a brand new sport at full value, whereas 32 % will await a sale or a bundle (just like the Humble Bundle). An extra 32 % say their video games are “obtained for free.” We’ll simply assume that they’re all benefiting from free-to-play titles or the Epic Games Store’s weekly PC game giveaways as a result of there’s actually no different, extralegal strategy to get hold of them. Ahem.

Other insights printed earlier than the total launch of the survey are much less useful. Three-quarters of responders mentioned that PC video games are too costly…however that blanket assertion doesn’t actually think about that indie video games (which the identical 75 % mentioned they purchase) are usually far much less dear or that PC video games are normally cheaper than console video games as a consequence of dear licensing.

Ultra is actually attempting to drum up curiosity for its gamer-to-gamer digital retailer, so despite the fact that I’m not doubting the validity of the information, I’d take what statistics they do select to share with a grain of salt. I’ve discovered that one of the best ways to economize on PC video games is to train endurance. That sizzling new title that’s getting all of the headlines will most likely be half off sooner or later within the subsequent 12 months or so…and your backlog of unplayed Steam video games you bought from half a dozen Humble Bundles isn’t going wherever.