Why the "Play Time" of a Game Shouldn't Be "News"

"Today, Eidos Montreal made “news” by announcing that the play time for the delayed Deus Ex: Human Revolution title coming out of the studio sometime this year would take 25 hours to play through. I get a kick out of developers or publishers attaching a specific play time to a game, especially in this day and age. Even if someone wanted to know how long a game is and, for some ignorant reason, would base their purchase on that arbitrary number alone, there are still two big reasons why I don’t think play time matters. Let’s take a look at them."

[Ninferno]

Great editorial.... Makes sense. Who cares?

[CrzyFooL]

I think it's important if a game is overly short or long. Like when I find out certain movies are just over an hour or 3+ hours that's some info I'd like to know.

I can't sit through a 3+ hour movie in theaters. Man's gotta pee ya know.

[seinfan]

Wait for the DVD or BluRay, then.

[thevokillist]

Shortness of games make me feel like I'm wasting my money. I don't want to spend $60 for a game that is going to take me only a few hours to beat. I consider myself an experienced gamer and the main things I look at is difficulty and how long its going to take me to beat. 25 hours is a good amount of time to complete a game. 6 hours, not so much.

Good read, man.

[JoelT]

Time and time again people swear by the length of all of these WRPG titles, yet i know tons of games that completely trump them in terms of narrative. It's not even fair!

[Chadness]

Most games trump WRPGs when it comes to narrative, especially sandbox-style ones like Oblivion.

[MariaHelFutura]

HUH?

[Chadness]

Well, when you have sandbox RPGs, the story tends to lack a bit in favor of freedom and character creation trumps having a defined character with a tight story.

Not that they're bad, but focused narratives like Mass Effect or Persona 4 will always trump "go anywhere, do anything" type games like Oblivion.

But, like I said, I still love sandbox games for what they are, but when I go to play a game, it is the narrative that draws me, nothing else.

[Objective]

Beg to differ, I think Oblivion had a great main plot and many many great subplots, and all that makes the experience all the more engaging, whether you choose to explore all the subplots or not.

[MMFGaming]

The reason why game length is particularly relevant to Deus Ex is largely because it shows that the developers are very much aware of what Deus Ex fans want -- a long, RPG that actually develops characters and engages gamers in its world.

That was an element that was largely missing from Deus Ex: IW and its abysmal 12-hour run time, and that's why it was important for the developers to let gamers know, "hey, we're not screwing this up...it's not going to be a 8 hour FPS".

Deus Ex will not be just another sci-fi FPS. People don't seem to realize that (primarily because the generation of today probably hasn't played previous Deus Ex games) and that's why it's important for Square Enix to firmly separate it from the rest of the other shooters on the market.

As a Deus Ex fan who was devastated by Deus Ex: IW, I thought it was very, very exciting news.

[CrzyFooL]

Human Revolution is DX 1 of the 21st century. But you didn't hear that from me ;-)

[allenhpark]

It's true, but it's sadly a product of our generation. When $60 games these days only take like eight hours to complete, PR companies are gonna try to do what they can to sell their game to others.

[taz8080]

Play time is very subjective any way. Some people can power thru games faster than others, skip thru non essentials or just go online. BUt yes, playtime has become greatly over rated. If playtime were so important than WoW should be the greatest game in the universe, as it never ends and you could isck millions of hours into it.

[Objective]

I think the issue is playtime per dollar spent. But I'm more interested in having a great experience that I would not hesitate to replay.

[NYC_Gamer]

well i like my retail games to be longer than 4-6 hours

[jaredhart]

4-6 hours for a 50 - $60 game is def a rip off.

[Batmau5]

As long as it's more then 6 hours worth of game, I'm in.

[booni3]

It's a something that they can brag about. You never hear a company talk about the play time when a game is eight hours or so, but otherwise i don't have a real problem with it.

[A LIVING LEGEND]

DS proves that a game can be difficult,amazing,small but requiring skill & patience enough to seem long.

[despair]

this guy is making it seem bigger than it is, this has nothing to do with people play games at different paces or quantity vs quality, its a simple estimate or average that the devs got in playtime so people get a general idea how long a game is.

If they are giving out the info, and its an estimate not something you take as fact, then why not let them its more info on the game and when its a big name like Deus Ex then I want all the info I can get(except story).

[A LIVING LEGEND]

as a general rule of thumb,a '10' hour campaign is actually a 6-7 hour playthrough.
so,a 20 hour in reality is 12-14 hours.General rule not without exceptions.

[N311V]

I'm the opposite to you, 10 hour will usually take me more like 15 and a 20 hour for me about 30 hours. I do like to take my time though, I'll quite often walk through a game rather than run.

[JohnColaw]

I find that I can roughly take whatever estimates the companies put out and for me personally, cut them in half and that's roughly how long it will last.

In the end, play time doesn't mean squat. Portal is hailed as one of the greatest games in recent years and isn't very long at all.

[Danl]

Yeah, Portal is a great example of a fantastic game that was exactly the length it needed to be. Certainly not the only example, though.