Consumers should avoid buying computer games in the run-up to Christmas as part of a campaign to secure cheaper prices for games.

A group of gamers has set up "Don't buy a videogame week", which runs from 1 - 8 December, to protest at what they describe as the "rip off" cost of games. And they hope that if enough people take part it will make the games industry sit up and take notice.

With 80 per cent of all games industry revenue coming from sales during the Christmas period, campaigners believe that a mass demonstration of consumer power might just make games companies think again.

While many games cost as much as £45, campaigners claim that in reality games cost little more than 40p to make.

"We're not saying 'Don't buy a game ever again'. All we're saying is, if we all demonstrate our power as consumers by refusing to buy anything in one particular week, the industry will have no choice but to sit up and listen," campaigners said in a statement on their site.

"There isn't a single reason that games couldn't be sold at £20, or even less," they said.

Those behind the campaign - which includes a clergyman, games journalists and developers - have also set up a Web site and an online petition to help their campaign for cheaper videogames. ®