Gaming Addiction and Shopping Therapy: 71% of gamers shop as hard as they play during big sales events

Gamers are voracious shoppers at sales events, a recent Kaspersky study has revealed. Research shows that 71% of gamers buy as many listed items as possible during the discount shopping season and 74% consider these events a crucial opportunity. Unsurprisingly, the most dedicated ones are ready to wait for the major sales, even for essential purchases. Spontaneous purchases also occur more than a half (53%) can’t resist making a purchase even if they were not planning on it.

The global video games market is poised to grow impressively in the upcoming years, with expectations of a robust annual growth rate of 9.3% between 2023 and 2028. This projected expansion underscores the ever-increasing popularity of video games as a form of entertainment across the world. The global video games market is expected to increase to nearly 390BN US dollars by 2028. The Kaspersky study also shows that gamers are just as passionate about shopping as everybody else.

The survey reveals that most games fans won’t miss a chance to improve their gaming setup during big sales events. After preparing their wish lists beforehand, 71% of gamers buy as many of these listed items as possible during the sales events. Many of them do their best not to miss out: 65% set alerts for the release of new items such as games, upgrades, or equipment, enabling them to make immediate purchases.

The study underscores the importance of sales events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday for gaming enthusiasts, with 74% rating these events as very or even extremely important to obtain games, upgrades, and equipment. While 31% of gamers, particularly those playing 21 hours or more per week, tend to buy items as soon as they become available, a significant 69% strategically even wait for these big sale days to make essential purchases.

Interestingly, the appeal of sales often leads to spontaneous purchases. Regardless of the initial solution, 53% of gamers buy something for their system. Even with careful planning of expenditures, most gamers can’t resist buying something else during the general rush.

To achieve their perfect setup, gamers are open to using diverse payment methods, including cryptocurrency. A remarkable 57% of gamers are comfortable using cryptocurrency for online purchases, and 56% for transactions in physical stores. Among committed gamers (those playing over 21 hours per week), this preference for digital currency transactions jumps to two-thirds.

“To ensure that people can do what they love without losing personal data or money, we are constantly improving our comprehensive security solutions. For example, Kaspersky Premium provides online payment and identity protection, data leaks checker and a superfast reliable VPN – a combo to beat cybercriminals in reality and to help gamers have an inspiring gaming and shopping experience”, comments Marina Titova, Vice-President, Consumer Product Marketing at Kaspersky.

To ensure secure online shopping, Kaspersky shares some helpful tips:

1. Type the URL into the address bar

Opening links from online store emails can have serious consequences for online security. Fraudsters may use phishing links that lead to fake websites that look similar to the original store website. On such sites, attackers may ask users to enter personal information or bank card numbers. So, whenever there is a need to open a web site of an online store, it is always better to type its URL into the address bar avoiding any links in emails.

2. Use a temporary credit card

Some banks provide their clients with the opportunity by issuing temporary credit cards. A tool like this will help you take advantage of the winter sales without fear of further data loss. Sometimes banks also offer what is known as a virtual credit card. This is similar to a regular card, but a random account number is generated for each purchase, preventing hackers from reusing the number.

3. Manage and protect your online passwords

It is well known that cybersecurity requires customers to have a unique and strong password for each of their accounts. But it is also obvious that coming up with and remembering dozens of complex passwords is a very difficult task. Therefore, to ensure the security of online shopping, password handling can be entrusted to a reliable password manager.