It’s all too obvious that times are tough right now, and people’s personal budgets are far from what they once were. Unemployment is rising, and layoffs and cutbacks continue to affect every industry and sector of the workforce. Activision head Bobby Kotick spoke with Fox Business about this very topic last week, Kotaku reports, saying:

“I think that it's one of the profound challenges we face in our economy today and our country today. I think it is likely to affect every business. One of the nice things about video games is that it does give you the opportunity to escape from some of the difficulties in the day-to-day — in your day-to-day lives as you start to think about those challenges.”

For the famously controversial Kotick, this is a surprisingly levelheaded and reasonable position. Most of all though, it's true. Remember, this is exactly the kind of situation that helped the film industry thrive during the 1930s; in tough times, people turn to their entertainment medium of choice to get away for a little bit. Nothing surprising or original there.

One of the main reasons gaming is such a draw for so many people these days is that, like Kotick points out, “Whether it's DJ Hero or Guitar Hero or Band Hero or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, these are all products that give you hundreds and hundreds of hours of entertainment for good value.”

This isn’t to say that there aren’t plenty of people who simply can’t afford to part with even the "smallest" bit of cash. In fact, one of our readers commented on a Modern Warfare 2 post just yesterday that he won't be purchasing Infinity Ward's latest shooter for quite some time because he was recently laid off. Of course, that doesn’t mean a rental is out of the picture, but you get the idea.

How have these rough economic times affected your gaming purchases? Do you find yourself renting more as opposed to buying?

Source: Kotaku