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Survey: 1 in 10 gamers to stop playing to curb energy bills

August 17, 2022

Almost 1 in 10 UK gamers (9 per cent) have admitted that they’re looking to stop playing video games in order to avoid rising energy rates, a survey has revealed.

Carbon-Cutting Consoles asked 2,000 UK gamers about how their habits have changed as a result of increased costs, and looked at the impact of the best-selling games consoles over the last two decades, including a financial and environmental perspective.

Of those surveyed who said that they were considering giving up their gaming hobby in order to save money, the majority had been playing for at least five years (57 per cent), whilst a further third had been playing games regularly for the last decade (31 per cent).

With energy costs on the rise, many are having to make changes in order to manage their expenses – such as halting hobbies, buying cheaper groceries or taking on a second job.

This follows news that there’s another energy price spike on the horizon, with the massive increase in the price of energy meaning that the energy price cap for UK consumers is likely to increase to £4,266 by January 2023 – a four-fold increase since 2019.

It seems that for those with hobbies associated with energy consumption, they’re struggling to make ends meet, and are having to put their passions aside for the foreseeable future.

The survey also found that a fifth of gamers (21 per cent) have already significantly reduced their playing time in order to save money, whilst 15 per cent said that they’ve cut back on spending in other areas – such as gas or groceries – to justify maintaining their gaming passion.

For those who are reluctant to reduce their time spent playing video games (46 per cent), the reasons for doing so were that it’s good for stress relief (25 per cent), it allows them to socialise with their friends online (18 per cent), and it’s the only hobby they have (11 per cent).

As well as asking gamers about how their habits have changed, the study also looked at the energy use of popular consoles, and found that the most draining platform released since 2000 are gaming laptops, which have an average energy use of 0.25 kWh.

Other consoles that have higher energy costs associated with them due to energy use included the PlayStation 3 (0.19 kWh per year) and the Xbox 360 (0.18 kWh) – and with the average gamer putting in 442 hours a year, this energy use adds up.

It seems that gaming companies have an opportunity to create a most cost-friendly and eco-friendly console, as the survey reveals gamers are keen to keep their hobby alive.

Over half (53 per cent) of those surveyed said they’d be willing to curb their gaming habits in order to reduce energy bills, while a further two thirds (64 per cent) are unaware of either the financial or environmental cost of gaming each year.

Categories: Articles, Consumer Behaviour, Games, Research

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