Report: Video game rentals hurt overall sales

Newsflash: game rentals hurt sales. Proving the obvious through research, a gamedaily affiliated study recently found that very few people who rent games actually end up buying the titles. According to the study, a full 49% of people bought none of the games they rented, 42% bought 1-10% of the games they rented, and 9% bought more than 11% of the games they rented. These are low numbers, folks, and this means that in general, rental play doesn’t lead to purchases. Also significant was the fact that teenagers make up 30% of game renters, though only 12% of the gaming population.

This all seems like common sense: games are practically rated on a scale of “don’t bother” for terrible review scores, to “rent it” for average games, to “buy it” for high scoring titles. Most gamers who rent a game are doing so because they’ve heard that it’s worth playing, but not the $50 or $60 it’ll cost to own it. This study just gives credence to the prevailing wisdom of the industry.

Read [Gamedaily] Via [Gamepro]