Amount of games

So, I was just curious how many games are released these days.

Turns out, on Steam alone - there are around 10 games released, on average, every single day. That's just Steam.

I remember a time when I was lucky to get ANY new game in weeks or months. You had to make do with what was available - meaning I could spend days or weeks playing a piece of shit, because that was what I had - and the process of learning mechanics was always fun in games of any complexity.

Also, I used to think I would definitely be able to play all the great games out there - because they were so few in number.

Slowly, I've realised that I can't even begin to keep up with my backlog - and we're talking about a backlog of GREAT games. Games that I would once have killed to get my hands on.

We're talking about amazing in-depth RPGs, strategy games, 4X games - on and on. My favorite genres.

Ironically, I'm far from as entertained as I was when I was a kid. I've seen too much - and I dismiss games out of hand for the smallest infractions.

In the past, I had all the time in the world with very few games - and now I have all the games I could ever want, but very little time.

Even worse, when I DO have time - I struggle picking a game to focus on, because I know there's always another that might just be more entertaining.

The "must have" titles get fewer and fewer as there are ever more of them released.

How the hell do you deal with that?

NewDArt said:

So, I was just curious how many games are released these days.

Turns out, on Steam alone - there are around 10 games released, on average, every single day. That's just Steam.

I remember a time when I was lucky to get ANY new game in weeks or months. You had to make do with what was available - meaning I could spend days or weeks playing a piece of shit, because that was what I had - and the process of learning mechanics was always fun in games of any complexity.

Also, I used to think I would definitely be able to play all the great games out there - because they were so few in number.

Slowly, I've realised that I can't even begin to keep up with my backlog - and we're talking about a backlog of GREAT games. Games that I would once have killed to get my hands on.

We're talking about amazing in-depth RPGs, strategy games, 4X games - on and on. My favorite genres.

Ironically, I'm far from as entertained as I was when I was a kid. I've seen too much - and I dismiss games out of hand for the smallest infractions.

In the past, I had all the time in the world with very few games - and now I have all the games I could ever want, but very little time.

Even worse, when I DO have time - I struggle picking a game to focus on, because I know there's always another that might just be more entertaining.

The "must have" titles get fewer and fewer as there are ever more of them released.

How the hell do you deal with that?

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I very much agree with this. I have around 700 games in my Steam library, and i'm sure I'll likely never have time for most of them. Especially as an adult. And I also have issues in focusing on one.

http://www.pcgamer.com/more-than-60...-year-almost-as-many-in-the-10-years-to-2015/ 99% of which we'll never hear of

Im only excited about rpgs nowadays so that works for me

NewDArt said:

How the hell do you deal with that?

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One day at a time, DArtsouls, one day at a time.

Yeah, I flit from game to game constantly. I finished Prey, but that was 18 games ago and I haven't finished any of the rest. I used to say I only play crpgs, but I've hit a ton of survival/zombie apocalypse games this year:

7 Days to Die
Salt
The Forest
Conan Exiles (Full Monty)
and a host of others

crpgnut said:

Yeah, I flit from game to game constantly. I finished Prey, but that was 18 games ago and I haven't finished any of the rest. I used to say I only play crpgs, but I've hit a ton of survival/zombie apocalypse games this year:

7 Days to Die
Salt
The Forest
Conan Exiles (Full Monty)
and a host of others

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I think Prey was also the last game I finished, though I sometimes forget these things

porcozaur said:

http://www.pcgamer.com/more-than-60...-year-almost-as-many-in-the-10-years-to-2015/ 99% of which we'll never hear of

Im only excited about rpgs nowadays so that works for me

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Those crazy numbers are from the "dark ages" of the fake games though .

Seriously, there was a popular scam (explained here) how some developers made money off the Steam trading card mechanic via fake games.

Valve allowed this to go on for way too long before addressing the issue. They made nice money off those billions of transactions so they were not in a hurry.

They only took action when those fake games started to mess in a more serious fashion with Steam systems like Greenlight as well as their charts and metrics systems because all of a sudden fake games started appearing in the top charts due to their faked popularity.
People saw fake game in their suggested lists, bought fake games, people were unhappy, people returned games, support ticket count went up, support queues got longer and then Valve finally took notice and action against this system.

With the changes to Greenlight (now called Steam Direct) and to the trading card system (see this announcement from back in May), we should now hopefully see a lot less crap on Steam.

--

Fake games aside, the number of games nowadays is crazy, yes. As someone who is interested in a wide range of games my backlog also keeps growing and growing. Oh well. First world problems .

I always try to finish one game before moving to the next. I know if I don't there is only a small chance I will return and unfinished games always bother me. That said I try not to look at my unplayed games as a backlog but as a library that I can choose from for my next play. Getting a new game adds to my choice. It's a positive thing! ( I am only half able to convince myself… )
I think the reason you are losing your enjoyment is because you are thinking of games as work. Something you have to do, instead of optional entertainment. Backlog implies you HAVE to catch up on it - you don't! What you play or don't play is completely up to you. Be the master of your games, play what you want and damn the rest!

crpgnut said:

Conan Exiles (Full Monty)

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Isn't that MMO?
If I remember it being MMO correctly - that's unfinishable product. So kick it off the "finished" list.

Philistine said:

I always try to finish one game before moving to the next.

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Me too.
Doesn't work every time, so I went to try ACO before finshing Elex (yes, because friends being interested in ACO) which made me finish ACO before Elex.

Oh, I didn't finish any of the survival games. None of them have an end really, though the Forest kinda does.

joxer said:

Me too.
Doesn't work every time, so I went to try ACO before finshing Elex (yes, because friends being interested in ACO) which made me finish ACO before Elex.

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How was ACO?

Too many interesting games. Better than too little, I suppose.

NewDArt said:

How the hell do you deal with that?

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A few years ago I bought pretty much everything "cRPG" and was in the same condition as you. Since last year I stopped buying.

I got 3 "new" games this year and finished them (and trying to finish MEA twice but got sidetracked by POE2 beta but I should finish it, I got like 5 hours left to go or less if I rush the main quest). That is it. The rest of the year I (re)played older stuff and dabbled in a few backer betas.

and I don't even feel like I missed anything. I also said "screw it" to my backlog.

azarhal said:

A few years ago I bought pretty much everything "cRPG" and was in the same condition as you. Since last year I stopped buying.

I got 3 "new" games this year and finished them (and trying to finish MEA twice but got sidetracked by POE2 beta but I should finish it, I got like 5 hours left to go or less if I rush the main quest). That is it. The rest of the year I (re)played older stuff and dabbled in a few backer betas.

and I don't even feel like I missed anything. I also said "screw it" to my backlog.

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Yeah, I'm getting close to a point where I'm ready to do that.

Also, I really need to learn not to buy games upon release - but later down the line. I don't think there's really any downside to that anymore - given my situation.

I deal with it by keeping focus on what I know I like and limiting games. I hate clutter of any kind - virtual or physical.

I have only 14 games on Steam (and so glad you can now permanently delete from Steam if you wanted to keep my list clean). Of those 8 I have finished. One is just a random survival game I toy with (Conan Exiles) and the rest I hope to finish.

Only 4 games are installed on my HD - Skyrim, FO4, ELEX, and POE. Although actively really only playing FO4.

I am fairly specific about what I like and games and don't really care if I might be missing out on something as long as I have something I enjoy. Never been into the grass is greener on the other side as long as my own grass is decent enough.

The only time I experiment with genres/themes is when I am bored and don't have a current game really holding my attention.

wolfgrimdark said:

I deal with it by keeping focus on what I know I like and limiting games. I hate clutter of any kind - virtual or physical.

I have only 14 games on Steam (and so glad you can now permanently delete from Steam if you wanted to keep my list clean). Of those 8 I have finished. One is just a random survival game I toy with (Conan Exiles) and the rest I hope to finish.

Only 4 games are installed on my HD - Skyrim, FO4, ELEX, and POE. Although actively really only playing FO4.

I am fairly specific about what I like and games and don't really care if I might be missing out on something as long as I have something I enjoy. Never been into the grass is greener on the other side as long as my own grass is decent enough.

The only time I experiment with genres/themes is when I am bored and don't have a current game really holding my attention.

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That must be nice.

I'm generally very curious about a large variety of genres - and though I do have favorites, I have games in nearly every genre that I love.

I've always craved evolution and taking things beyond that they were - but that almost never happens anymore in the AAA segment. Sadly, it rarely happens in the crowd-funding scene either, which mostly seems to be about fan-service.

But it does happen. D:OS2 did evolve certain things, for instance - like having the best and most sophisticated cooperative multiplayer I've seen in a CRPG. That was wonderful.

I don't think I could limit myself to a few genres. I think I just need the discipline to focus on one game at a time.

I used to finish almost every game I played, or at least get to the end, now that I have more games, I will often not finish a game I consider average or worse, and I have less frustration tolerance than I used to, since I know I can play another game if I'm not having fun. I used to spend much more time on action and pure strategy games, I still play a strategy game about once a week, and I play an action or hack and slay, or adventure game once a week, the rest of my time is spent with rpgs. I have cut back the number of games I buy and even during a Steam sale, I'll look at each title carefully and only buy things I'd really see myself playing soon, though if a game is under 5$ I might give it a chance. Some of these games have been sitting in my library for a while, but I'll often try one out of the blue and sometimes I'm very pleasently surprised, sometimes I'm not.

Like some people already said, I try to stick to one game at a time. After sinking in a couple of hours, I can pretty much tell whether I'm going to continue play the game or not. I actually end up finishing games I tend to enjoy. If I didn't enjoy the game for the first few hours, I just give up.

I also don't own many games. I think I have about 35 or so games in my library. Of them, I think I've got my money's worth from about 5 games. Those games, I have hundreds of hours invested. I actually don't mind replaying games I love - definitely enjoy that over playing new games that bores me.

I’ve already resigned to the fact that my steam account has a bunch of games that I’ll never end up playing even though I have the desire to.

I have 209 games on steam, I’d say of those I’ve probably finishe 15-20. I typically finish 2-3 games a year. You do the math.:lol:

I also have the problem of game hopping. I’ll be enjoying a game just fine and something will release that I want to try and I’ll start it and never return or return several years later to the game I was playing.

260 on steam, about 40 on GOG, many older titles installed from neither. Favourite games this year by time played... Tabletop Simulator and Spelunky by a long way.

These days around 25 hours seems the sweet spot for me to finish something on the first attempt. All the games I've finished in the last year have been about that long. Anything longer than that and it has to really grab me, something that is very rare these days. All have been either somewhat story driven or platformers, no sims or strategy games which I used to play a lot.

Not being able to spend longer than an hour or two, nearly always very late in the day I think is a big part of the issue. I literally nod off at the desk. Generally speaking I've found there's a certain point whilst playing that I go from just playing around to being really absorbed in a game. I liken it to something similar to the Gruen transfer (look it up) but for gaming. During xmas holidays when I don't go away and I can really get stuck into gaming without guilt or interruptions I manage to reach that old feeling of satisfaction, losing track of time and often finishing a longer title. During the rest of the year I get distracted and flit around like many mentioned above. Often I'll just stare at the list of games, feel uninspired and open youtube instead (and then fall asleep).

I've tried to cut down on buying stuff. I basically never buy games at release being happy to wait mainly for the game to be finished and bundled with all its add-ons that invariably appear. Even if I do get stuff at release I don't recall ever actually playing anything, the post release shenanigans that goes on these days with patching, balancing etc etc puts me off.

What I don't play now I look at as something to do in retirement... By then I'll have thousands of hours worth of stuff to play