Bring on the recession

These are tough times. People are loosing their jobs, banks and cars are in crisis and the debate is still going whether the gaming industry is recession proof.

It's all a big bummer, right?

Well, not for me.

Let me tell you why. I'm a happy go-lucky European that loves to game but as most of us game enthusiasts I don't like that €50 (~$66) price tag. When the economy is booming retailers see no reason to drop prices. In addition I must imagine that retailers probably bought a little more stock than was necessary for certain games. But as the economy belly-flopped retailers here realised that prices needed to be cut. And this is where I start to celebrate the current recession as I have managed to pick up most of the top tier games of last year for more than 50% off. Just the other day I found Dead Space for €17 (~$23), SFIV on release was only €32 (~$42), Valkyria Chronicles €24 (~32). I pretty much hadn't bought a single game since I picked up my PS3 bundle that included Burnout Paradise, Ratchet and Clank: ToD and Uncharted, and I bought Assassins Creed on sale back in March 2008, but now I've trippled my games collection and I'm spoiled for choice.

If your job or house isn't affected by the recession then smile, because gaming has never been sweeter.

These are tough times. People are loosing their jobs, banks and cars are in crisis and the debate is still going whether the gaming industry is recession proof.

It's all a big bummer, right?

Well, not for me.

Let me tell you why. I'm a happy go-lucky European that loves to game but as most of us game enthusiasts I don't like that €50 (~$66) price tag. When the economy is booming retailers see no reason to drop prices. In addition I must imagine that retailers probably bought a little more stock than was necessary for certain games. But as the economy belly-flopped retailers here realised that prices needed to be cut. And this is where I start to celebrate the current recession as I have managed to pick up most of the top tier games of last year for more than 50% off. Just the other day I found Dead Space for €17 (~$23), SFIV on release was only €32 (~$42), Valkyria Chronicles €24 (~32). I pretty much hadn't bought a single game since I picked up my PS3 bundle that included Burnout Paradise, Ratchet and Clank: ToD and Uncharted, and I bought Assassins Creed on sale back in March 2008, but now I've trippled my games collection and I'm spoiled for choice.

If your job or house isn't affected by the recession then smile, because gaming has never been sweeter.

"if your job or house isn't affected by the recession then smile, because gaming has never been sweeter."

"If your job or house isn't affected by the recession then smile, because gaming has never been sweeter."

If your job or house isn't affected by the recession then smile, because gaming has never been sweeter."

I really didn't mean to offend. Obviously I feel sorry for people that are suffering in these tough times. But from what I learned when I studied economy is that spending money in times of recession is what you want people to be doing in order to avoid businesses from downsizing. So the way I see it, me purchasing more games does in fact help the game store clerk to (potentially) keep his/her job.

My main point was that we as gamers should take advantage of these tough times. The title was meant to be a bit catchy and provocative.

Oddly enough things are more expensive here in Sweden, usually there would be bigger pricedrops sooner. Most games stay full price longer now it seems to me.

I bought SF4 brand new for 300kr in China while I was in Shanghai, got you beat there haha. My point was anyway that games tended to have price cuts sooner before the recession, like Fable 2 which still cant be found for under 400kr, while something like lets say the orange box for the 360 I got for 259kr maybe a few short months after release.