Is there a market for second-hand gaming consoles? There is, but a small one
It’s raining brand new consoles – the string of new Ayaneo handheld consoles, Nintendo’s successor to the Nintendo Switch and Sony’s PlayStation 5 pro is rumoured to arrive later this year as well. But among talk about all things new, it’s interesting to explore how many consumers could prefer choosing second-hand gaming consoles instead.
A recent YouGov survey asked consumers across 17 international markets about the categories of products they would consider buying second-hand or pre-owned. Earlier pieces discussed cars and exercise equipment. Here, we focus on gaming consoles.
Compared to other categories of products listed in the survey, consumers are least likely to consider second-hand gaming consoles - less than a quarter of consumers across markets (22%) would do so.
In Great Britain (home to video game developers like Playground Games and Sumo Digital), nearly three in ten (29%) consumers say they would buy pre-owned gaming consoles - the most likely across markets to say so. Demographic data reveals a third of British men (33%) would buy second-hand consoles, more likely than women are to do the same (25%).
Consumers in Spain, (27%), Microsoft’s home ground USA (26%), Australia (25%) and Canada (25%) follow Brits in saying they would consider opting for pre-owned gaming consoles.
In Asia, home turf of video gaming giants like Nintendo and Sony (PlayStation), Singaporeans are the most likely (18%) to choose second-hand gaming consoles. Within Singapore, the youngest cohort surveyed (18-24 year olds) are the most likely across age groups (28%) to consider buying second-hand gaming consoles.
As for consumers in the UAE, 17% would also opt for pre-owned consoles - so would 15% of Indians, recording a marginal lead over bottom-placed Indonesians (13%).
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Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 17 markets with sample sizes varying between 500 and 2002 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in February 2024. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.
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