Are you one of the millions who’ve been playing more computer games during lockdown? It’s not surprising that demand for games consoles spiked in the last few months as people were isolated at home looking for things to do. Whether it was slaying dragons, exploring new worlds, or playing Football Manager to make up for the lack of live sport to watch, gaming across all platforms rose exponentially during the spring and early summer. Many people found that their PS4, Xbox, or Switch was the ideal way to spend all that extra time, whether they were on furlough or no longer commuting for hours every day.
Apparently, video gaming may even have been
good for us, helping us manage the strange new world of being stuck indoors
apart for our hourly exercise. Research from Hull University suggested that some online gamers were able to cope with
lockdown better because they were more accustomed to socialising over the
internet.
Many people bought new games consoles when they realised that they were going to be at home for some time and needed something to occupy them.
Sales of Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch all increased more than 160% in April 2020 compared to April 2019, and the Switch broke the
Wii’s record for highest year-to-date dollar sales for any hardware platform.
Some games were particularly popular. Multiplayer
shooter game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive saw an increase of 360,000
players during March, while battle arena game Dota 2 received 120,000 new
players.
Unfortunately for many would-be gamers, the
virus also meant that fewer games consoles could be manufactured and delivered.
The result was shortages around the world, just as demand spiked. This would
have been the ideal time to sell your old device and games!
If you missed this opportunity in the
spring, it’s not too late to take advantage of the increased interest in
gaming. With life still not back to normal, and the prospect of further localised
lockdowns ahead, never mind the winter months when we won’t be able to sit
outside at pubs and restaurants, we can expect demand to remain high. So now
could be the perfect time to dig out those old games consoles you
no longer use and sell them to someone who will make good use of them.
There’s a thriving resale market for all
the major gaming consoles, including older models such as the PS Vita, PS3, and
Xbox 360. You could, of course, sell them privately, but that means listing
them, deciding if the potential buyer is genuine, then packing them up and queuing
at the Post Office in your mask to send off the parcel. A quicker solution is
to use an outline
marketplace to compare prices and find the best offer. You can sell your PlayStation,
Xbox, or Wii to a reputable company and they will even send you the packaging,
so the whole process becomes much easier. If you have several items, you can
choose the best offer for each.
Even if your console hasn’t been used for
some time, there may still be value in it. It could be refurbished and then
resold to someone who couldn’t afford a brand-new console. In the worst case,
it will be dismantled for parts and the useful materials recycled following Waste
Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations.
So, what are you waiting for? Dig out that
old console now, so someone else can benefit from it, and buy yourself some new
games with what you earn through Sell
My Gadget.