International Games Month: top UK cities with the biggest second hand market!

Research has shown that 62% of gamers in the UK have recently changed their habit of buying new games to hunting second hand games amid the cost of living crisis. 

With a 60% increase in pre owned games searches on Google* and in response to the International Games Month, Theslotbuzz.com were intrigued to find out which game is the most popular among gamers in the second-hand market and which city has shown the most interest. 

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To do this, they scraped recent sales of over 60 most popular games on a notable resale e-commerce website. Theslotbuzz.com also utilised Ads.google.com to record Google search volumes for relevant second hand gaming phrases in each UK city, revealing the city most interested in second-hand gaming! 

Key findings:

• Minecraft is the most sought-after second hand game, with 5,700 used items sold online recently, highest among all games reviewed!
• The newly released shooting game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is ranked second with 5,500 used games sold online. GTA V placed third with 4,500 sales. 
• London is the city most interested in second hand gaming, thus the biggest market for used games and console resale! 
• Birmingham ranked second with 8,040 Google searches for second hand gaming and Leeds came third with 5,040 searches. 

Top 10 most sought-after second hand games

Ranking	Game	Number of items sold (second hand only)*
1	Minecraft	5,700
2	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II	5,500
3	Grand Theft Auto V	4,500
4	Mario Kart 8 Deluxe	3,300
5	Red Dead Redemption II	2,600
6	FIFA 22	2,500
7	The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild	2,400
8	Luigi’s Mansion 3	2,000
9	Animal Crossing: New Horizons	1,900
10	God of War	1,800

*Used/pre-owned/second hand sales only in the last 90 days

Minecraft is the most popular game in the second hand market with 5,700 used items sold in the last three months, the highest among all games reviewed! Known as the best-selling game of all time across multiple platforms, it is not surprising that Minecraft ranked first in the second hand market too. Pre-owned Minecraft PS4 edition was recently sold for £11 on average, a 50% lower price than a new official copy. 

Following closely behind is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II with 5,500 used games recently sold in the second hand market. Only released a month ago, this first-person shooting game, sequel to the 2019 blockbuster Modern Warfare, has already become one of the most streamed games this month. The average listings for this second hand game were priced at £46, only 10% cheaper than buying a brand new one. 

Grand Theft Auto V, widely known as GTA 5, ranks third with 4,500 used games sold recently online. Rockstar’s enduring game, firstly released in 2013, has grabbed the headlines again after releasing on PS5 and XBOX series earlier this year. The recent sold price for the used GTA V PS5 version was £18 on average, saving gamers over 27% more than buying a brand new one!

The full dataset for all 61 games reviewed can be found on Onedrive here.

Top 20 cities most interested in second hand games

Ranking	UK City	Average annual second hand gaming search volumes
1	London	36,600
2	Birmingham	8,040
3	Leeds	5,040
4	Manchester	4,320
4	Liverpool	4,320
4	Bristol	4,320
7	Glasgow	4,080
8	Edinburgh	3,840
9	Sheffield	3,360
10	Leicester	3,000
11	Coventry	2,760
11	Cardiff	2,760
12	Nottingham	2,640
12	Norwich	2,640
12	Newcastle-upon-Tyne	2,640
12	Durham	2,640
12	Bradford	2,640
18	Plymouth	2,520
18	Kingston upon Hull	2,520
20	York	2,400

Theslotbuzz.com can reveal that London is the city with the most interest in second hand gaming, thus the biggest market for used games and console resale! Accumulating over 36,600 Google searches over the last 12 months, people in London are seeking pre-owned video games, especially those compatible with one of the most popular consoles: Nintendo Switch. 

In second place is Birmingham where people have been utilising different ways online to buy “second hand consoles”, “Pre owned games” and “Used gaming pc”, etc. A total of 8,040 average annual Google searches were recorded over the last 12 months, leaving them in second place among all 74 cities reviewed. 

Leeds ranked third with 5,040 estimated annual Google searches for second hand games and consoles. Keywords such as “used PS4” and “used Nintendo Switch” are among the most commonly searched terms, together with searches for vintage games. 

The full dataset for all 74 cities reviewed can be found on Onedrive here. 

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