SwapGame survey

13 November 2009 – Britons are sitting on a cash mountain of £1.8 billion in unused computer games, the equivalent of one game per person in the UK, according to a nationwide survey published today.

The poll, conducted by SwapGame.com to celebrate the launch of their video game trade-in service, analysed what 2,000 consumers across the country do with their ‘completed’ computer games, including where in the home they get stored.

The results revealed that one in five consumers (22%) have 10 or more computer games at home they haven’t played in the last six months. 6% of people claim to have more than 25 untouched games at home.

Despite this, gamers buy on average five new games a year, with 12% claiming to buy 10 or more games. Rather worryingly, 10% of people actually admit to throwing their unwanted games in the bin – a rather expensive past-time given that the most coveted games cost in excess of £40 brand new and can be exchanged for over £25 from SwapGame.com! The rest of us are more likely to stuff unused computer games into already bulging cupboards – 67% of us say this is our preferred location for storing games we’ve finished playing with.

The ‘Game Shelf Life’ survey also found that:

· More than one third of people (38%) have over £100 of unused games lying around at home.

· Over one in three (36%) spend only 1-5 hours playing a game before moving onto a new one.

· Men are more likely than women to have 10 or more unused computer games at home (25% compared to 20%)

· The older generation are much more likely to throw out computer games than their younger counterparts (27% for those aged 55 and over compared with 7% aged between 16 and 34)

· Almost two thirds of us still buy our computer games brand new (63%). Only 9% typically get their console games by swapping them with friends.

“We are all looking for ways to cut costs and it appears that we really should be heading for our cupboards to unlock the value we have in unused games,” said Marc Day, SwapGame founder and CEO. “If you’re holding out for the latest titles like Modern Warfare 2 or Assassin’s Creed 2, our new trade-in service means the old games you’ve got stored away can now get you significant discounts on new ones, an ideal way to save money on your Christmas shopping.”

SwapGame.com is the first company in the UK to offer an online trade-in service, providing gamers with a convenient way to trade in their unwanted games for instant credit to lower the price they pay for new games.

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Notes to editors

· The research was conducted by Toluna.com. 1,998 consumers were surveyed across the UK in October 2009.

· According to the Office of National Statistics, in 2007 there were 36,203,800 people aged between 16 and 59 in the UK.

· According to Euromonitor International, 37% of the population aged between 16 and 49 describe themselves as “active gamers” on a console, hand-held of PC.

· The average amount SwapGame gives a customer when they trade in a game is £25.25

For more information please contact:

Heather Forty/ Dave Turnbull

Skywrite for SwapGame

020 7608 4646

swapgame@skywritecomms.com

About SwapGame

SwapGame founder Marc Day was standing in a queue at a local video store in 2003 waiting to return a game he had rented. Initially frustrated at not having enough time to complete his game, Marc discovered he would have to pay a £5 late fee for returning the game one day late. He left the store disheartened thinking that there must be a better way to play.

Marc set up a website operating out of his bedroom. His service would be based on a monthly subscription with games delivered to customers’ doors by first class post. It would carry an extensive catalogue and gamers would be able to play their games for as long as they wanted with no return dates and no late fees. After several months of hard work, Marc quit his day job… and SwapGame was born!

SwapGame was the first company in the UK to offer video game rentals online and the first to offer customers the opportunity to keep the games they rent for a low pre-played price. It is now also the first company to offer an online trade-in service providing gamers with a convenient way to trade in their unwanted games for instant credit to lower the price they pay for new games.

Over the past 6 years, the SwapGame service has evolved, but the aspiration is still the same… to provide the absolute best value gaming and service to SwapGame’s customers across the UK.