IGN Entertainment, in collaboration with market research firm Kantar and UC Berkeley, has released an entertainment consumption analysis report. The report, which surveyed thousands of core content consumers across the U.S., U.K., and Australia, aims to identify recent shifts in consumer habits.

The most striking finding in the report concerns gaming. According to the data, a staggering 62% of surveyed consumers stated they do not purchase games at full price. By generation, only 42% of Gen Z (ages 14–29), 38% of Millennials (ages 30–44), and 20% of Gen X (ages 45–61) expressed a willingness to pay full price.

Explaining the reasoning in an interview with VGC, Christopher Dring of GamesIndustry.biz noted, "With more entertainment options and new releases than ever before, the demand to rush out and buy games that launch in an incomplete state has dropped significantly."

Internationally, these individuals are known as 'patient gamers'—those who prefer to wait at least six months to a year after a game's release before playing, rather than purchasing it immediately.

Their reasoning is simple: they feel there is little benefit to buying a game at launch. As the time between release and the first discount continues to shrink, full-price tags feel increasingly expensive. Furthermore, there are the persistent issues of bugs and poor optimization at launch. Many recent AAA titles have struggled with these problems, often compounded by DLC or expansions that disrupt the flow of the base game. It is also common for 'complete' or 'Game of the Year' editions, which include various additional content, to be released later.

In short, their logic is that it is far more rational to wait at least six months for discounts to kick in and for bugs and optimization issues to be resolved before diving in.

Indeed, 'Cyberpunk 2077' famously received harsh criticism at launch before subsequent patches largely resolved its bugs and optimization issues. Similarly, 'Monster Hunter Wilds,' released last year, also required several months of updates to address optimization problems. This is not just an international phenomenon; Pearl Abyss' 'Crimson Desert' also faced criticism at launch due to usability issues, which have since been significantly improved through recent patches.

However, the report cautions that these findings do not necessarily represent the habits of all consumers. As the survey focused on core content consumers, it notes that one should avoid generalizing these trends to the entire user base.