PS5 and Xbox games are getting shorter and it’s a good move

With many PS5 and Xbox Series X launch titles clocking in at under 30 hours, could the 4K console generation herald a better, healthier experience for players and developers alike?

[SullysCigar]

So Demon's Souls is "shorter"?

Umm, I don't think so...

[ziggurcat]

It, apparently, also takes 6 hours just to get to the title card in Cyberpunk?

[RememberThe357]

Reviewers just want shorter games so they can get them over with. 40hr games are still my shit.

[MajorLazer]

How is shorter games a good thing?! Especially with games now costing £70.

[Latex74]

Just what I was thinking 🤔

[Games1st]

They can make shorter games cheaper.

[SullysCigar]

Spot on - and they do, so the topic of this article is a non-issue. What a baseless point of view, to suggest that games are getting shorter, when we've had such a small number of launch games to compare lol

[masterfox]

since when 30 hours is short?

[P_Bomb]

It’s funny when you consider that a majority of gamers don’t finish what they start. Reviews might rally around umpteen hour rpgs, but when you pull up your cheevo list, a new reality sinks in.

GTAV, one of the most successful entertainment products of all time. On PS3, 29% completed the final mission. 16.7% on PS4.

More ppl finished Lost Legacy (50.3%) than Among Thieves (39.2%).

[P_Bomb]

Edit: oops, I meant A Thief’s End, not Among Thieves.

[RaiderNation]

And I enjoyed Lost Legacy more than Thiefs End.

[Knushwood Butt]

Just throwing it out there, but tlou2 is a pretty long game but has a surprisingly high completion rate last time I looked.

[MajorLazer]

Tbf, UC4 was a PS+ title so that would skew things a bit as people would feel more obliged to finish Lost Legacy since they paid for it and the opposite for UC4.

[P_Bomb]

@knush
That is true. TLOU2 has one of the highest completion percentages I’ve seen. Well after tee time. ND has to be happy about that.

@raider
I’ve seen that sentiment before, wouldn’t be surprised to see it again with Miles Morales. Less pigeons, more punch.

[RaiderNation]

@P_Bomb

IMO, Lost Legacy is just a tighter, more cohesive experience. I also think the environments were more breath-taking and were overall more interesting to explore. Plus I really enjoyed the dynamic between Chloe and Nadine more than between Nathan and Sam. I thought introducing Sam as a long lost brother to Nathan this late in the series was a mistake and it reminded me of when TV shows would introduced new characters out of nowhere late in the show's run to prolong it.

[Xack]

I personally enjoy shorter story-driven games, but I know many others love a good timesink. I think we'll continue to get both short and long and those in between.

[Flawlessmic]

I have to agree and say games should be shorter, only because the extra content usually amounts to filler which does not respect the players time and only detracts from the game.

For example i recently finished Spider man MM and got my first platinum trophy, with the city crimes, all it asks is to complete each one atleast once and complete bonus tasks which will count as 100%.

Compare this to spider man which i just installed on my ps5 and realised i was at 90% completion when i left it so decided i might as well platinum it before i start a new game plus.

To get get 100% completion i now need to do 5 types of different crimes 5 times each in every district, this adds nothing to the game and only serves to pad the game out and waste my time as a gamer, as it is asking me to repetedly do something i already bored off and is not new or interesting.

I love longer games and a good epic adenture but only when it is that and not full of boring repeated tasks or stupid games that have multiple pointless things to collect for the sake of keeping me busy and then saying we have an 80 hr game. If half of is just rubbish then give me 40 hours or give me a small amount of filler so that i dont get sick of it and give up on it. Balance is key which is why i think spider man miles morales hit the perfect spot.

My point is i enjoyed almost every second of MM whereas with spider maybe about 70 -80%.

I finished a long day of work and started knocking of the crimes in each district this arvo for 2 hours before i was like this is boring and mundane so turned it off, i will platinum spider but geez not lookingofward to replaying these crimes atleast another 50 times, remind me how this makes games better?
A side note, i absolutely love spider man as can be seen by how much iv played it and only used it as an example as it is the most recent one to come to my head when discussing this article.

[Knushwood Butt]

I was playing The Last Campfire today and was thinking to myself, 'This game has no filler. Really good pacing.'.

About 5 hours in and I know it's not a huge game.

[Chocoburger]

This is one of the best posts I've read on N4G in a long time. Spot on, and exactly my thoughts. I have the SpiderMan PS4 Platinum, but doing all the 'clean up work', like collecting things and stopping crimes was pretty damn boring. Glad to hear that MM doesn't bog the player down with extra crap.

The thing is, gamers believe that adding an extra 40 hours of boring filler in a game equates to "REPLAY VALUE" but no, that's not true replay value. That's busy work for the sake of busy work, perhaps to boast about it on the back of the box (or digital store page), or to prevent people from trading in the game immediately.

To me, true replay value is something like Metal Gear Solid, this is a game I have completed 15+ times. In fact I recently completed it last month and had a great time with it. I love the game so much, that I naturally want to return to the game over and over again every couple years. That right there is "REPLAY VALUE"! I want to replay the game, because its a masterpiece, not because of grinding for experience points, Trophies, or busy work, but because the journey is second-to-none.

I have completed every Assassin's Creed game up to Origins 100%, Odyssey is the first I didn't 100% because it was 97% filler trash. AC:V is the first game in the first I've decided not to play, I'd rather spend those 200 hours playing other games instead of wasting it in a busy work game.

[Ninver]

How is paying more for less a good thing? I swear some of these people are confused.

[jBlakeeper]

You can’t assume that off of a few launch titles. Dumbest article on here at the moment for sure.

[spicelicka]

Seriously, what kind of uninformed nonsense article is this. Just took random set of games and made a random connection that literally means nothing, while at the same time contradicting himself by saying Assassin's Creed, Yakuza, and Gears Tactics are lenghty.

[philm87]

30 hours is a huge game when you've got a family and little time to play. That's plenty, definitely quality over quantity in those circumstances. Some games you just want more of though if they're that good.

[CrimsonWing69]

I like how he picks a game that’s the equivalent to Uncharted Lost Legacy, as if those are the norms...

[Germaximus]

There's nothing ever good about a game being shorter. Short games aren't bad, though. Spider-Man is a 10/10. But the idea that games being shorter is "better" is flat out stupid.

[MrBeatdown]

More is not necessarily good, across the board.

I enjoyed The Last of Us 2, but there were points where I just wanted it to end. That doesn't mean I only want twelve hours of gameplay.

Part of the appeal of Call of Duty is I get a campaign I can finish in a week, multiplayer, co-op, etc. No shortage of gameplay, but each option is less of a commitment.

It's not that I want less value. I can't wait for Cyberpunk. I just know I can't sit and absorb a 50 hour linear story like I used to.

[Germaximus]

I agree with you there. That doesn't mean "shorter is better." Uncharted 4 and both of The Last of Us games had terrible pacing issues where I was bored for several hours. They're still excellent games.

If a game was perfectly balanced, the duration wouldn't matter. It's those slow boring as hell parts that stick out more than anything.

[FanboysKiller]

Not if you gonna choose one game like many gamers out there.

[melmacj]

Uh no its not a good thing when prices are increasing to 69.99 and they're milking us with DLC. I guess if you're lazy and don't have a lot of time to play yeah. But wanting to pay more for less content is dumb. This is sending the wrong message to developers.

[Redrex7000]

short with ton of replay value is fine for me

[Abnor_Mal]

I'm guessing this writer would prefer games with the length of Bright Memory. Nice and short, real short.

Makes The Order seems like a twenty hour epic journey.

[northpaws]

I think it depends on games.

Recent AC games feel too long while Witcher 3 wasn't, despite they have comparable length if you want to finish everything.

And to me, I wished astro's playroom and Spiderman MM can be longer as they are extremely fun, but at the same time, I don't mind that much this time as I can't wait to get started with Demon's souls, and then AC or Cyperpunk (kinda want to wait for PS5 version)

[RiverCityBoy]

A game doesn't have to be shorter to be better. I'd find these larger games more enjoyable if they actually had more interesting things to do. Don't give me a 60 hour game when about 40 of those hours are forced walking segments, unwanted "stealth" missions, clearing enemy camps, or collecting 700 scattered items, miles apart from each other, on the map. Just give me the story. Give me exciting missions, hype boss battles and more mechanics to play with

[oof46]

Mmmm...no.

[staticall]

Games should be interesting to play, not grindy, repetative and dull. I'll take Witcher 3 over Assassin's Creed Origins any day. I spent same amount of time in both of them and i can't stand Assassin's Creed Origins anymore, but i started a new playthrough of Witcher 3.

Another example, i'll take Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes over Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands; Wildlands is longer but less interesting to play, while MGSV: GZ is much shorter, but 100 times more interesting to play.

P. S.: I noticed that i used Ubisoft games in both examples, that's just a pure coincidence
P. P. S.: 30 hours is shorter? O__o

[Germaximus]

lol Totally agree. And yes, Ubisoft specifically designs their games to be grindy so that they can try and milk money out of people continuously. I enjoy their games overall, but they have gotten worse as a company as they clearly care more about milking that cash now.