The 2012 Gaming Expenditure Horror

Unlike previous years, where I had a rule of not buying games if they cost more than a certain amount of money (£18, in 2011), in 2012 I followed the Pound-a-Mile Challenge – detailed here. This post is a roundup of where that money (and this year, miles) went.

In all, I spent £834.48. Last year, it was £888.22, so I’ve spent 6% less on games and game related paraphernalia this year. Woo! 6%!

Here’s the hardware/software split:

Which is almost exactly the same as the previous year (34.8/65.2). That means software accounted for £525, less than 2011′s £579, which in turn was lower than in 2010. I expect this year the hardware wedge to be much smaller, as there’s no hardware out in 2013 that I’m interested in (no, not even an Xbox 720/PS4, should they materialise).

How did the spending break down by platform?

The 360 takes up more or less the same slice as in 2011, where it had 26.5%, and the PS3 dropped to 5.9 from 12%. The Wii has dropped to almost nil from 22.4%, but the Wii U does account for some of that change. The 3DS grew from 32.6 to 40.2%. Overall, the pie is very similar in terms of money share.

Note, however, that this chart doesn’t take account of hardware – whereas last year’s did. Really shouldn’t have included hardware in it last year. Hmm. If you take hardware into account, then the Wii U takes up almost half the pie.

Finally, the spend by medium:

Downloads this last year mainly came in the form of the 3DS eShop and 360 XBLA. Some Wii U, PC/Mac and PS3 PSN stuff is included too, though. Interestingly, but expected, the share of downloads has increased. In 2010 it was 25%, in 2011 it was 34.9%, and this year it is 42.5%. A long time ago, I predicted this would be the case, and (slowly) things are moving that way. In fact, if I had a faster internet connection, no doubt that figure would be even higher – some games I don’t download simply because it would take weeks.

In 2012, I bought about 80 games. Down from 130+ in 2011, and lower than 90 from 2010. However, I also completed fewer (39 compared to 68). Damn Skyrim taking up my entire life.