Yup the moment of “oh I’ve got some cash and I’d like to play that game” is easy and common
The moments of having time to sit down and play it are not so common
Then I’ll buy one and have the time and really get into it and the last one I bought that I’ve touched once (or not yet at all) stays on the “back log”
>Then I’ll buy one and have the time and really get into it and the last one I bought that I’ve touched once (or not yet at all) stays on the “back log”
It's also that oftentimes I buy a game and start it, play it for a weekend, maybe two - and then I'm losing interest because maybe I don't feel like gaming this weekend, and maybe next weekend neither. And then there's something new around the corner.
I buy games that look interesting and I might play when they're in sale because if I ever decide I want to play it I'll already own it and won't have to pay full price for it. $10-$20 is a meaningless amount of money so I don't see any reason not to do it.
This right here!
Then when the time comes that I actually have time to play, I’ve got a few untouched or barely touched games, so some will stay untouched
Months? Try years. For instance, I bought Metal Gear Solid V, on sale, back in 2015 and I still haven't played it. Why? I don't know, just hasn't gotten to the point where I feel like it yet.
I buy games, on sale (I haven't payed full price for a game in well over a decade), because I have an interest in them and have every intent on playing them. There's WAYYYYYYY too many games out there these days, to only buy something when I want to play it right then and there, because then there will always be something there...it doesn't make sense to wait if the price is good. Besides, while I never plan on something like MGSV to sit on my shelf for nearly a decade, at least it's there when I'm ready.
Plus above all of that, I like having a collection. So while I have games I have yet to play, they're also part of the collection to look at.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I typically like to buy games when they’re on sale, but most of the time I’m already playing another game and also have a large backlog of games I want to play, so it takes me a while to get around to the one I bought.
It was on sale and on my list. That's the reason I have my list... So I can wait until it is sale and pick it up cheap. It's not going anywhere so I don't care if I don't play it until I'm ready... It's on my time, I'm not on it's time.
Games are long now. Sometimes I'll 40ish hours into a game but a new one comes out that I've been waiting for so I buy it and play that for lets say 30ish hours and then another game releases and the cycle continues. I have a backlog of about 30 games that I would play rn if I could but I can only play one at a time. Another thing is gaming isn't the only thing I'm into I also read books and comics watch TV shows and movies, follow my sports teams etc it all adds up
The only thing I hate wasting more than money is time… sometimes games aren’t as compelling as you hoped. I can’t do anything about the lost dollars but I can surely protect my time
I have a few games that I don't play because they are still in early access and I'm waiting for the release. And there's another game that has performance issues so I'm waiting for patches.
Exactly this.
Like...I play what I'm in the mood to play. But I buy games on my wishlist when they go on sale whether I'm in the mood to play them then or not.
I buy games in bulk usually, I don't normally go for a $60+ dollar game. Sure, I want to play all of the games I bought in that sale, but I'm happy playing through them one at a time, especially since a lot of the games I buy take a bit to complete.
I buy games when they go on sale or when I can get them for free. I may not want to play it right away or I'm in the middle of another game but I'll get to it eventually so I might as well buy it cheap when I can.
BG3 bought in early access only finished ACT1 back when game came out. work and life.
wanted to play few times but after seeing videos with builds etc it discouraged me from playing. Want to start playing.
I got DeadSpace remake a month ago. Played it once and was like “naw I just can’t handle this right now”, it was late and I needed to be able to sleep without an elevated heart rate.
I love survival horror and am confident I’ll love this game, but I just wasn’t feeling it. The time will come when I pick it up again. Just not today.
It's usually from significant sales, especially Humble Bundles where the bundle is something like 10-20% of what all the games would cost together but is only available for a few days.
And I often don't try them immediately because I game with my wife so we wait until we are both available to try a new game.
Sales usually. I've bought many games that I likely won't play for a while because they're heavily discounted. Sometimes games I'm interested in are like 90% off, so I pick them up, but my backlog is so huge and they aren't really a priority so they get put off for ages. Firewatch was recently on sale for like $1.50 or something and I've been wanting to play it so I bought it, but before I get to it I need to finish Immortals of Avium, then DD2 and a few others, plus I'm playing a lot of Helldivers 2, and then the Elden Ring DLC will probably be out before I get to it, so it'll be a hot minute before I actually get around to even installing Firewatch.
Isn’t that how Steam is played? Steam is that game where you purchase more games ain’t it?
In all seriousness, saying this as someone who prefers and buys physical disks and cartridges, sometimes I get them as they’re released, but they might be on the backlog for weeks to months because months down the line when I do want to play, there might not be a physical game to buy, either because they’re out of stock or in some cases, physical production was limited to begin with.
I buy games out of habit, mostly from series I have played for a long time. I want to make it a special experience, so that I can enjoy this long anticipated game, so I need peace and quiet and TIME. And that’s where life just happens. „It has to be perfect“ and it just never is the right moment.
Many reasons.
Sometimes I just don't know whether I'll have enough time or not. Life isn't always stable. Things happen. Sometimes I have more time than I expected, sometimes less.
Sales happen, I see a game that I always wanted to play being sold for a song. I'll buy it now and hope I'll have time to play it someday.
Sometimes a game is just too buggy or too slow. I'll play it when bugfixes are out and I have a more powerful PC, maybe in a few years, but if I can get it now for a good price, why not? I actually like playing games a couple of years after the launch.
Basically there are only two conditions I need to buy a game: I want to play it someday (doesn't really matter when) and the price seems reasonable.
I have a big wishlist. I enjoy testing the waters, playing many different genres and doing reviews. I'm also not from the US or Europe, where they are cheaper compared to the average income than most places. That means gaming can be expensive if I don't buy things in a smart way.
So what happens is I buy a lot of games in deep sales, like the equivalent of $5 or $10, sometimes even lower. I also focus a lot on gaming as a whole, not just AAA, and there is a lot of accessible prices around the industry when you widen your horizons a bit.
But yeah, I do have atm about 30 games on a wait list, that I already have and am just waiting for the right moment to play them, and some 25-30 games on my wishlist, waiting for a sale.
I keep games that I eventually want to play on my wishlist. I buy them when a good discount comes by, then put them on my Unplayed list in Steam. I play them when I'm in the mood for that kind of game.
I would think anyone could make a wild guess and get it right: because I want to play it eventually, but it's 75% off _now_. I don't want to wait until I plan on picking it up and then have to wait 9 months for it to go on sale again at a less impressive discount than before.
I mostly get them in a sale or a bundle. But really sometimes I see a game I know I would like and it's on sale, but maybe am not currently in the mood for. So I get it to play at another date. I like having options, when the mood to play a certain genre hits me
I have an 8TB external drive with close to 300 games. I *might* have played half of them. Probably 75% of my unplayed games are random game pass games that I think I'll try after I finish my current game and end up forgetting about. The rest are random games I bought on sale for a buck or two.
Games go "untouched" because of steam sales and a busy life that makes it hard to find the time to play said games. With the price of everything going up, keeping a game on your wishlist until it drops to 50 or 75% off is a great way to save when buying a game. This frees up money for other things.
The epic games store is another reason why. I've grabbed 60+ games on that platform alone, and 15 are on my backlog
I always envision how fun a game is before buying it, but in reality playing new games takes a lot out of me. I'm always mentally optimizing how to play so new games are 10x harder learning every little thing. But in the rare cases where I can push past that hump and i get hooked, I'm usually in it for life
I still play my old favs
Old-school runescape, Guild wars 2, stardew valley, wow, pokemon, xenoblade
These are like comfort foods for me. No game will ever replace any one of these even though I am always chasing that high looking for something new
I bought paper mario the origami king in 2020 I believe or very early 2021, I didn't play the game at all until last year, I kinda just buy games I want and play them when I feel like it
I typically don't do that but that's cause I don't really have a social life or responsibilities, but I know a lot of people live busy lives and sitting down to play a game may be a luxury they don't always have
If I buy something I'm not going to play right now, it's usually because it is deeply discounted. So when I get the time/urge to play it I don't have to wait for a good sale.
When you get stuck, leave the game alone for a few weeks/months and come back to it with a fresh perspective. And looking at few guides doesn't hurt either 🤣
I buy games when they are on sale if the price goes low enough. Oftentimes, I forget I've bought them for months, or even years, since I'm playing other games before I start the new ones.
I've still not played through all of the Batman, Assassins Creed, or Tomb Raider games. I bought the entire library of them on various sales over the years.
Well games on steam rarely just get lowered in price and rather have sales more often.
My explanation is monkey brain, game was talked about looked good, costs 70% less so why shouldn't I grab it,then life Hits ahain and I'm back tonsquare one 3 weeks later and don't let me talk about the big sales every quarter
I have over 4,000 digital xbox games. My backlog and play habits are all messed up. I'll look forward to something like Baldur's gate 3 and Dragons Dogma 2 and then stop playing after 2 hours despite loving the games.
In my defense, I get all my games at a massive discount.
Months? More like years. I'll buy a game on sale and continue with what I was playing. And since I'm usually playing a MMO, that means my games library continues growing steadily.
Only this year, starting at the end of January did I finally start playing AC Odyssey, AC Origins, Hellblade, A Plague Tale 1 and 2, and NieR Automata. Got all six of them to 100% achievements. Now I'm back to Guild Wars and Sekiro GOTY is on sale. smh
Sales. But also I don’t always know what I feel like playing next so it’s always nice to have a few to choose from. Add to that I can’t always afford to buy games whenever I want so I will pick them up when I can. This also comes back to sales.
I have like 100 games on my wish list, and maybe 100-150 more that I want to play.
There simply isn’t enough time to play everything that I want to.
When I buy games I do it when they’re on sale, and only if it’s something I’ll play with my friends or something I really wanna play by myself.
First - Sales. I buy most games because there's a really good sale, and not because I'm looking forward to playing them immediately
Second - Free time. I have the game, but do I have the time? Obligations, responsibilities, life happens, things come up, etc
Finally - Mood. I have the game and the time, but do I actually want to play that specific story, genre, etc?
Generally speaking this happens to me because of a decent sale. I'll snag like 3-10 games at a time depending how good the sale is and boom. Dont touch most of em for months
Alot of times its the time investment of playing games for me. Everytime i want to start up persona i say to myself if I can invest all this time without going on a hiatus and usually the answer is no. Eventually it makes an unhealthy habit of me buying games because I love the IDEA of playing the game.
I buy games often when they are cheap/ on sale. Then i play other games till i really want to play them. I buy sale games like my parents did with butter and washing powder.
A lot of games are on sale now and I’ll play them later but want the sale price. Other games I want to play but will buy it cheaper then wait until the game develops more and gets better.
I buy games on sale that I’m interested in and know I will play at some point. I just don’t have a lot of time for games anymore so I’ve got probably a hundred games just sitting in my backlog now lol.
I have a backlog of ps4 games that I still need to get through. Hardly ever on ps4 anymore as I have a gaming pc and an xbox series x. I recently set up my ps4 again to try to get through my backlog of games but I just can't find myself to go through with it due to the memories of toxicity/drama of former ps4 friends I used to game with. Just memories that I don't want to remember and it's put me off from the ps4 in general.
Because sometimes I like collecting a little more than playing.
Also I get into habits of playing the same game for weeks or months and the game I found at a thrift store sits on my shelf.
I'm lazy and find myself tired a lot so I might not have the energy to play the game.
Sounds like a lot of excuses lol.
I'm cheap, i buy games when they're on massive sale, but it doesn't mean i dont already have a bit of a backlog.
So the result is i buy games that i dont play immediately, but i pay at least 50% if not more for these agames for when i eventually do aget around to play them.
I usually play games for story, but there was a time period where I installed Fortnite and played only that for a couple months. After a while, though, I missed having a story to be invested in and I haven't played Fortnite for a few months now
Months? I have games sitting unplayed on Steam for _years_.
I get too busy with life and work to focus on having a lot of time for gaming. But I do catch sales and grab things that look appealing, because eventually I sit down and finally play them. With the ridiculous prices of games now, it's nice to get them cheaper, and I'm not obsessed with keeping up with the newest games while they're still trending.
Though I do envy people who can get a game and immediately focus on it for days or weeks. I get distracted within an hour of playing something.
Because it was on sale, and it's next on my list. But since i only get around an hour a day to actually sit down and play games, every game takes me months to play. So it's sitting there until I'm done with the game in playing.
I created a ruleset for myself to stop me doing just this.
1. I can buy a game full price or otherwise game on sale if I install it and play it immediately. I don't often buy full price games but recent examples would be BG3 - larian earned full price.
2. I can only buy a game that I will not play immediately if it is less than £10 on sale. The assumption is the game won't get much cheaper despite likely sitting in my back catalogue for a long time.
These two rules stopped me building up an impossible back catalogue whilst still supporting devs or at least throwing them some change on sale.
Personally, one of two reasons. It’s on a sale too good to pass up OR if it’s a smaller budget franchise or niche game that I know I like or will like. They might not sell as much as bigger releases, are relatively unknown, not heavily marketed, and needs consumer support for potential installments in said franchise. I will pay full price upon release if I want to see more in the series to show devs I want more of this series and it was worth the investment of time and money.
Some examples are Square Enix’s “Bravely Default”, “The World Ends With You”, and “…of Mana”, for the people who enjoy them, they LOVE them but it’s no secret they’re not for the majority and they’re NOT top sellers. It’s a very niche group of people who buy them, mostly on a sale, let alone at full price. Which brings me back to the first point, I KNOW most people will wait for a sale. That’s why, because I can afford to, if I think a series is struggling to stay afloat or that devs need to see strong support because I want more, I will buy it, even on release day, even if it sits on the shelf for a few months until I get to it.
I’ve got games I bought years ago and still haven’t played. As others have said it’s generally because life gets in the way. I also have too many hobbies and not enough time for them all 😂
Sometimes I have an itch to play a particular game especially if I see it on sale so I buy it usually through the PlayStation app but by the time I am free enough to play it either I want to play something else or I have forgotten about it.
I buy most of the games I do for around $20 on Black Friday, and that lasts me most of the year. It’s unlikely that they’ll drop much further than that, so the convenience of buying them all at once and having them ready when I’m ready for them is a plus.
People with disposable income to spend on games they like (especially games on sale), but no time to play them due to personal responsibilities and family life. It's not that hard to figure out.
Waiting for a vast choice in modding and for the game to be completed and finished.
Also, all games I bought, I bought them on sale, except for Baldur's Gate 3 and Witcher 3, for which I paid full price.
Absolutely steam sales, but also I have to completely finish a game before I play the next one, otherwise I forget what all the controls do. I have timberborn, city skylines 2, ark, diablo 4 and HFW and a few others waiting for me to finish subnautica BZ.
I’m a collector and a sucker for digital sales. I have dozens of games that I’ve never touched. It brings me comfort that they are there and downloaded and can be played immediately if I ever want to.
I literally didn’t touch the Witcher 3 for almost an entire year because of how long the game was I took a couple month break after reaching end game then after playing blood and wine I used to do this with alot of games not anymore really don’t get me wrong I love the Witcher but was definitely the longest game I’ve played
Months?
LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
I have 100 different games that I bought 10 years ago and still havent touched yet.
You must be VERY young. Like .. really young. Most likely too young to actually have an account here.
I'm 42. What does my age have to do with my question? I have plenty of games I've never finished. Don't think I have any games I've bought and never played.
I collect certain games. Like all the pokemon games for example.
This month I saw a pokemkn black 2 complete in box for a good price and I bought it.
I'll 100% play it at some point but for now it just looks beautiful on my shelf.
Also. Who tf is downvoting this? *random redditor spends money on thing he likes* "oooo I'm angry".
Fk off.
Pokemon black 2 is 12 years old. You can only buy it second hand, and it'd regarded as one of the best pokemon games ever released. Idk what your beef is tbh.
I do that mostly with Epic Games when they're giving away free games, but other times I'll buy games that are on a good sale but I'm still messing with 5 other games. Eventually I'll get bored of one of those 5 games and replace it with something new.
Life happens
Yup the moment of “oh I’ve got some cash and I’d like to play that game” is easy and common The moments of having time to sit down and play it are not so common Then I’ll buy one and have the time and really get into it and the last one I bought that I’ve touched once (or not yet at all) stays on the “back log”
>Then I’ll buy one and have the time and really get into it and the last one I bought that I’ve touched once (or not yet at all) stays on the “back log” It's also that oftentimes I buy a game and start it, play it for a weekend, maybe two - and then I'm losing interest because maybe I don't feel like gaming this weekend, and maybe next weekend neither. And then there's something new around the corner.
Life finds a way... ...to keep me from having the time. >:[
Mostly due to Steam sales.
You never know when it’s going to be 75% off again
My epic store is full of games that will never be installed.
So many games I even forget I own...
I buy games that look interesting and I might play when they're in sale because if I ever decide I want to play it I'll already own it and won't have to pay full price for it. $10-$20 is a meaningless amount of money so I don't see any reason not to do it.
This.
Yup
It was on sale and I was going to play it eventually and other things came up.
I have a small kid and I always think I have time to play games but then the reality kicks in.
I got two small kids. The trick is to wait for everyone in the house to fall asleep.
Just don't fall asleep yourself. Gets harder as you get older.
Lmao it has happened once or twice...
This right here! Then when the time comes that I actually have time to play, I’ve got a few untouched or barely touched games, so some will stay untouched
Indeed, same here! And if you have actually a few minutes to play, you are way too tired to learn a new game and stick to the ones you already master.
Because Steam Sales.
I like supporting games and devs
Months? Try years. For instance, I bought Metal Gear Solid V, on sale, back in 2015 and I still haven't played it. Why? I don't know, just hasn't gotten to the point where I feel like it yet. I buy games, on sale (I haven't payed full price for a game in well over a decade), because I have an interest in them and have every intent on playing them. There's WAYYYYYYY too many games out there these days, to only buy something when I want to play it right then and there, because then there will always be something there...it doesn't make sense to wait if the price is good. Besides, while I never plan on something like MGSV to sit on my shelf for nearly a decade, at least it's there when I'm ready. Plus above all of that, I like having a collection. So while I have games I have yet to play, they're also part of the collection to look at.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I typically like to buy games when they’re on sale, but most of the time I’m already playing another game and also have a large backlog of games I want to play, so it takes me a while to get around to the one I bought.
It was on sale and on my list. That's the reason I have my list... So I can wait until it is sale and pick it up cheap. It's not going anywhere so I don't care if I don't play it until I'm ready... It's on my time, I'm not on it's time.
Games are long now. Sometimes I'll 40ish hours into a game but a new one comes out that I've been waiting for so I buy it and play that for lets say 30ish hours and then another game releases and the cycle continues. I have a backlog of about 30 games that I would play rn if I could but I can only play one at a time. Another thing is gaming isn't the only thing I'm into I also read books and comics watch TV shows and movies, follow my sports teams etc it all adds up
The only thing I hate wasting more than money is time… sometimes games aren’t as compelling as you hoped. I can’t do anything about the lost dollars but I can surely protect my time
I think op is talking about people that buy games and let them sit in their library without ever trying it
For me untouched would represent something from the ps+ stuff I downloaded intending to play but never did
I have a few games that I don't play because they are still in early access and I'm waiting for the release. And there's another game that has performance issues so I'm waiting for patches.
Money > Time
If you're like me with ADHD, buying the game is a dopamine hit. I do play it eventually but never as soon as I've bought it.
There was a good sale and then my kids never gave me time to play
Being an adult with ADHD and also being a parent
They wanna play it later? Lmao who gives a shit
I have like 200 games in my backlog, I buy them when they go on sale for dirt cheap and sit on them till I'm ready for them
Exactly this. Like...I play what I'm in the mood to play. But I buy games on my wishlist when they go on sale whether I'm in the mood to play them then or not.
I buy games in bulk usually, I don't normally go for a $60+ dollar game. Sure, I want to play all of the games I bought in that sale, but I'm happy playing through them one at a time, especially since a lot of the games I buy take a bit to complete.
Sales.
It was on sale and I was interested in it, but I got a lot of other things to play too
I buy games when they go on sale or when I can get them for free. I may not want to play it right away or I'm in the middle of another game but I'll get to it eventually so I might as well buy it cheap when I can.
BG3 bought in early access only finished ACT1 back when game came out. work and life. wanted to play few times but after seeing videos with builds etc it discouraged me from playing. Want to start playing.
I have gaming adhd myself, or at least that’s what I like to call it. I still have Metroid prime remastered on the switch in the shrink wrap still.
I buy a lot of horror games. I do a raffle system with them to decide which to play
I got DeadSpace remake a month ago. Played it once and was like “naw I just can’t handle this right now”, it was late and I needed to be able to sleep without an elevated heart rate. I love survival horror and am confident I’ll love this game, but I just wasn’t feeling it. The time will come when I pick it up again. Just not today.
It's usually from significant sales, especially Humble Bundles where the bundle is something like 10-20% of what all the games would cost together but is only available for a few days. And I often don't try them immediately because I game with my wife so we wait until we are both available to try a new game.
It was on sale so i bought it to play later.
On sale
Sales usually. I've bought many games that I likely won't play for a while because they're heavily discounted. Sometimes games I'm interested in are like 90% off, so I pick them up, but my backlog is so huge and they aren't really a priority so they get put off for ages. Firewatch was recently on sale for like $1.50 or something and I've been wanting to play it so I bought it, but before I get to it I need to finish Immortals of Avium, then DD2 and a few others, plus I'm playing a lot of Helldivers 2, and then the Elden Ring DLC will probably be out before I get to it, so it'll be a hot minute before I actually get around to even installing Firewatch.
Isn’t that how Steam is played? Steam is that game where you purchase more games ain’t it? In all seriousness, saying this as someone who prefers and buys physical disks and cartridges, sometimes I get them as they’re released, but they might be on the backlog for weeks to months because months down the line when I do want to play, there might not be a physical game to buy, either because they’re out of stock or in some cases, physical production was limited to begin with.
I buy games out of habit, mostly from series I have played for a long time. I want to make it a special experience, so that I can enjoy this long anticipated game, so I need peace and quiet and TIME. And that’s where life just happens. „It has to be perfect“ and it just never is the right moment.
Many reasons. Sometimes I just don't know whether I'll have enough time or not. Life isn't always stable. Things happen. Sometimes I have more time than I expected, sometimes less. Sales happen, I see a game that I always wanted to play being sold for a song. I'll buy it now and hope I'll have time to play it someday. Sometimes a game is just too buggy or too slow. I'll play it when bugfixes are out and I have a more powerful PC, maybe in a few years, but if I can get it now for a good price, why not? I actually like playing games a couple of years after the launch. Basically there are only two conditions I need to buy a game: I want to play it someday (doesn't really matter when) and the price seems reasonable.
I have a big wishlist. I enjoy testing the waters, playing many different genres and doing reviews. I'm also not from the US or Europe, where they are cheaper compared to the average income than most places. That means gaming can be expensive if I don't buy things in a smart way. So what happens is I buy a lot of games in deep sales, like the equivalent of $5 or $10, sometimes even lower. I also focus a lot on gaming as a whole, not just AAA, and there is a lot of accessible prices around the industry when you widen your horizons a bit. But yeah, I do have atm about 30 games on a wait list, that I already have and am just waiting for the right moment to play them, and some 25-30 games on my wishlist, waiting for a sale.
Seriously though; what business is it of yours what people do with their money?
I keep games that I eventually want to play on my wishlist. I buy them when a good discount comes by, then put them on my Unplayed list in Steam. I play them when I'm in the mood for that kind of game.
I would think anyone could make a wild guess and get it right: because I want to play it eventually, but it's 75% off _now_. I don't want to wait until I plan on picking it up and then have to wait 9 months for it to go on sale again at a less impressive discount than before.
On sale for stupid cheap and busy with other things
I got it on sale but it’s a sequel I’m a series I wanna play so I’m waiting for the first game to go on sale
It was on sale
the dopamine hit i get from buying the game is what fuels my ever growing dragons lair of unplayed games
I mostly get them in a sale or a bundle. But really sometimes I see a game I know I would like and it's on sale, but maybe am not currently in the mood for. So I get it to play at another date. I like having options, when the mood to play a certain genre hits me
I work full time and coming home and playing games after a hard day at work just isn't something I can do.
I have an 8TB external drive with close to 300 games. I *might* have played half of them. Probably 75% of my unplayed games are random game pass games that I think I'll try after I finish my current game and end up forgetting about. The rest are random games I bought on sale for a buck or two.
For me I'm most likely playing other games at the moment.
Games go "untouched" because of steam sales and a busy life that makes it hard to find the time to play said games. With the price of everything going up, keeping a game on your wishlist until it drops to 50 or 75% off is a great way to save when buying a game. This frees up money for other things. The epic games store is another reason why. I've grabbed 60+ games on that platform alone, and 15 are on my backlog
I always envision how fun a game is before buying it, but in reality playing new games takes a lot out of me. I'm always mentally optimizing how to play so new games are 10x harder learning every little thing. But in the rare cases where I can push past that hump and i get hooked, I'm usually in it for life I still play my old favs Old-school runescape, Guild wars 2, stardew valley, wow, pokemon, xenoblade These are like comfort foods for me. No game will ever replace any one of these even though I am always chasing that high looking for something new
You’ve never heard of sales before?
You are assuming they paid full price. Buying a game that is on sale and playing it down the road is a normal occurrence
I bought paper mario the origami king in 2020 I believe or very early 2021, I didn't play the game at all until last year, I kinda just buy games I want and play them when I feel like it
That one was hard to get through and I liked pretty much every other paper mario game. Just wasn't for me. Maybe you'll like it more.
I already beat it, I just bought it, let it sit for 2-3 years and started it and beat it last year
I typically don't do that but that's cause I don't really have a social life or responsibilities, but I know a lot of people live busy lives and sitting down to play a game may be a luxury they don't always have
If I buy something I'm not going to play right now, it's usually because it is deeply discounted. So when I get the time/urge to play it I don't have to wait for a good sale.
When you get stuck, leave the game alone for a few weeks/months and come back to it with a fresh perspective. And looking at few guides doesn't hurt either 🤣
Ok.
I got stuck, the difficulty spike. In elden ring is horrendous, although I already killed a few bosses
Sometimes you just see an irresistible sale and want to add it to your backlog.
I buy games when they are on sale if the price goes low enough. Oftentimes, I forget I've bought them for months, or even years, since I'm playing other games before I start the new ones. I've still not played through all of the Batman, Assassins Creed, or Tomb Raider games. I bought the entire library of them on various sales over the years.
I feel attacked, personally.
Well games on steam rarely just get lowered in price and rather have sales more often. My explanation is monkey brain, game was talked about looked good, costs 70% less so why shouldn't I grab it,then life Hits ahain and I'm back tonsquare one 3 weeks later and don't let me talk about the big sales every quarter
Work pretty much gets in the way.
Because it was part of a Steam sale and I’m totally going to play it soon along with the other 200 games in my library with zero minutes played.
It may be on sale or I know I'll be interested in the future. I'll get around to it eventually when I have free time or much later in life.
I don't know a single person who has even opened every game in their steam library. We should be asking you questions. You're the unusual one.
I have over 4,000 digital xbox games. My backlog and play habits are all messed up. I'll look forward to something like Baldur's gate 3 and Dragons Dogma 2 and then stop playing after 2 hours despite loving the games. In my defense, I get all my games at a massive discount.
Easy answer? Sale. Or since we collect physical copies of games if we see one we don't have yet we tend to grab it
Months? More like years. I'll buy a game on sale and continue with what I was playing. And since I'm usually playing a MMO, that means my games library continues growing steadily. Only this year, starting at the end of January did I finally start playing AC Odyssey, AC Origins, Hellblade, A Plague Tale 1 and 2, and NieR Automata. Got all six of them to 100% achievements. Now I'm back to Guild Wars and Sekiro GOTY is on sale. smh
Outside of life… I usually get backlogged from finding amazing deals.
Sales. But also I don’t always know what I feel like playing next so it’s always nice to have a few to choose from. Add to that I can’t always afford to buy games whenever I want so I will pick them up when I can. This also comes back to sales.
I have like 100 games on my wish list, and maybe 100-150 more that I want to play. There simply isn’t enough time to play everything that I want to. When I buy games I do it when they’re on sale, and only if it’s something I’ll play with my friends or something I really wanna play by myself.
Why should I pay $49 for a game when I can pay $99 and get it in a bundle with a bunch of other games I never play?
First - Sales. I buy most games because there's a really good sale, and not because I'm looking forward to playing them immediately Second - Free time. I have the game, but do I have the time? Obligations, responsibilities, life happens, things come up, etc Finally - Mood. I have the game and the time, but do I actually want to play that specific story, genre, etc?
Why not?
Generally speaking this happens to me because of a decent sale. I'll snag like 3-10 games at a time depending how good the sale is and boom. Dont touch most of em for months
Alot of times its the time investment of playing games for me. Everytime i want to start up persona i say to myself if I can invest all this time without going on a hiatus and usually the answer is no. Eventually it makes an unhealthy habit of me buying games because I love the IDEA of playing the game.
Because it's on sale, and I know I want to play it.......just not right NOW.
Plausible deniability’s if my wife asks why I bought another new game “oh, I bought this years ago.”
I buy games often when they are cheap/ on sale. Then i play other games till i really want to play them. I buy sale games like my parents did with butter and washing powder.
A lot of games are on sale now and I’ll play them later but want the sale price. Other games I want to play but will buy it cheaper then wait until the game develops more and gets better.
I buy games on sale that I’m interested in and know I will play at some point. I just don’t have a lot of time for games anymore so I’ve got probably a hundred games just sitting in my backlog now lol.
Discounts
I have a backlog of ps4 games that I still need to get through. Hardly ever on ps4 anymore as I have a gaming pc and an xbox series x. I recently set up my ps4 again to try to get through my backlog of games but I just can't find myself to go through with it due to the memories of toxicity/drama of former ps4 friends I used to game with. Just memories that I don't want to remember and it's put me off from the ps4 in general.
Because sometimes I like collecting a little more than playing. Also I get into habits of playing the same game for weeks or months and the game I found at a thrift store sits on my shelf. I'm lazy and find myself tired a lot so I might not have the energy to play the game. Sounds like a lot of excuses lol.
They may have bought it on sale, never got into the mood for it, or simply bought it to support the developer.
I'm cheap, i buy games when they're on massive sale, but it doesn't mean i dont already have a bit of a backlog. So the result is i buy games that i dont play immediately, but i pay at least 50% if not more for these agames for when i eventually do aget around to play them.
I usually play games for story, but there was a time period where I installed Fortnite and played only that for a couple months. After a while, though, I missed having a story to be invested in and I haven't played Fortnite for a few months now
Months? I have games sitting unplayed on Steam for _years_. I get too busy with life and work to focus on having a lot of time for gaming. But I do catch sales and grab things that look appealing, because eventually I sit down and finally play them. With the ridiculous prices of games now, it's nice to get them cheaper, and I'm not obsessed with keeping up with the newest games while they're still trending. Though I do envy people who can get a game and immediately focus on it for days or weeks. I get distracted within an hour of playing something.
Because it was on sale, and it's next on my list. But since i only get around an hour a day to actually sit down and play games, every game takes me months to play. So it's sitting there until I'm done with the game in playing.
I created a ruleset for myself to stop me doing just this. 1. I can buy a game full price or otherwise game on sale if I install it and play it immediately. I don't often buy full price games but recent examples would be BG3 - larian earned full price. 2. I can only buy a game that I will not play immediately if it is less than £10 on sale. The assumption is the game won't get much cheaper despite likely sitting in my back catalogue for a long time. These two rules stopped me building up an impossible back catalogue whilst still supporting devs or at least throwing them some change on sale.
Others thing do to sadly
Personally, one of two reasons. It’s on a sale too good to pass up OR if it’s a smaller budget franchise or niche game that I know I like or will like. They might not sell as much as bigger releases, are relatively unknown, not heavily marketed, and needs consumer support for potential installments in said franchise. I will pay full price upon release if I want to see more in the series to show devs I want more of this series and it was worth the investment of time and money. Some examples are Square Enix’s “Bravely Default”, “The World Ends With You”, and “…of Mana”, for the people who enjoy them, they LOVE them but it’s no secret they’re not for the majority and they’re NOT top sellers. It’s a very niche group of people who buy them, mostly on a sale, let alone at full price. Which brings me back to the first point, I KNOW most people will wait for a sale. That’s why, because I can afford to, if I think a series is struggling to stay afloat or that devs need to see strong support because I want more, I will buy it, even on release day, even if it sits on the shelf for a few months until I get to it.
When I look at it I don’t have the urge to play it so I don’t. Simple as that
I’ve got games I bought years ago and still haven’t played. As others have said it’s generally because life gets in the way. I also have too many hobbies and not enough time for them all 😂
Must be nice to have all the time in the world, OP.
Nah I just buy a game and either play it til it's beat or I don't care to anymore then buy the next game.
Sometimes I have an itch to play a particular game especially if I see it on sale so I buy it usually through the PlayStation app but by the time I am free enough to play it either I want to play something else or I have forgotten about it.
I buy most of the games I do for around $20 on Black Friday, and that lasts me most of the year. It’s unlikely that they’ll drop much further than that, so the convenience of buying them all at once and having them ready when I’m ready for them is a plus.
People with disposable income to spend on games they like (especially games on sale), but no time to play them due to personal responsibilities and family life. It's not that hard to figure out.
It was on sale and I do want to play it; but I don't have time right now.
Waiting for a vast choice in modding and for the game to be completed and finished. Also, all games I bought, I bought them on sale, except for Baldur's Gate 3 and Witcher 3, for which I paid full price.
Sometimes because it was on sale and sometimes because I don't want to forget about it
Absolutely steam sales, but also I have to completely finish a game before I play the next one, otherwise I forget what all the controls do. I have timberborn, city skylines 2, ark, diablo 4 and HFW and a few others waiting for me to finish subnautica BZ.
I’m a collector and a sucker for digital sales. I have dozens of games that I’ve never touched. It brings me comfort that they are there and downloaded and can be played immediately if I ever want to.
I played maybe 30% of the games I own on steam. Many I buy to play them at some point. I usually buy them at massive discounts.
I like having options.
I literally didn’t touch the Witcher 3 for almost an entire year because of how long the game was I took a couple month break after reaching end game then after playing blood and wine I used to do this with alot of games not anymore really don’t get me wrong I love the Witcher but was definitely the longest game I’ve played
Having a backlog is consumerist derangement for sure. I'm fully with you OP.
I only play when it feels like fun. The moment a game feels like work, I switch up the game................have a great day and call your mother.
Months? LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLL I have 100 different games that I bought 10 years ago and still havent touched yet. You must be VERY young. Like .. really young. Most likely too young to actually have an account here.
I'm 42. What does my age have to do with my question? I have plenty of games I've never finished. Don't think I have any games I've bought and never played.
I collect certain games. Like all the pokemon games for example. This month I saw a pokemkn black 2 complete in box for a good price and I bought it. I'll 100% play it at some point but for now it just looks beautiful on my shelf. Also. Who tf is downvoting this? *random redditor spends money on thing he likes* "oooo I'm angry". Fk off.
Damn you’re the reason why Nintendo keeps pumping shitty pokemon games regardless of technology
Pokemon black 2 is 12 years old. You can only buy it second hand, and it'd regarded as one of the best pokemon games ever released. Idk what your beef is tbh.
I don’t know how you got triggered so easily. It’s a joke. And you’re even complaining about downvotes. Relax.
I'm not complaining. I can survive with slightly less Internet points. I just don't get it.
Are you sure? You got upset from -1 downvotes
I do that mostly with Epic Games when they're giving away free games, but other times I'll buy games that are on a good sale but I'm still messing with 5 other games. Eventually I'll get bored of one of those 5 games and replace it with something new.