People aren't finishing video games? DUH!

I don't know about you but this is such a dumb and obvious thing. I read a couple of articles on some gaming sites that were talking about a study that said most people don't finish games. My answer is DUH! Of course most people don't finish games! Why? because too many games get released at the same time period among other reasons. Let me explain.

You see most video games publishers have certain periods where they release a ton of games within a week of each other, mainly during the pre and post holiday period. Look at this year alone, there's at least 8 must have games released in November alone and what are the odd people are going to finish them all before the next big must owns come out in January?. I am also guilty of not finishing games myself. My JRPG collection is mostly unfinished because new games come along and draw me away from them and they just sit there waiting for me to have the time to play them once again.

Then there's the fact that most modern gamers have a life outside of video games. These people just don't have as much free time to play as a guy like me who does nothing but play video games and my best mate is one of those kinds of people. He works 12 hours a day, 5 days a week and only has the weekends to himself and you know what he does? Sleeps most of it and spends time with friends and family. He has 34 games on PS3 and has only finished 7 of them... since he bought the PS3 on release!

Plus 2 out of every 10 gamers rent games and they usually don't re-rent them after that weekend they rented it for because they don't have the money or one of the previous 2 factors. Also don't forget the people who make the most of game retailers 7 days to return policy where you buy it and can bring it back within 7 days for a full refund or store credit(EB Games loves only giving you credit instead of cash).

When it comes to my game collection personally the only games I haven't finished are some JRPGs, some NES games, Mass Effect 2 and Dead Space 2. I'd say about 92% of my game collection has been finished so it's not too big a ratio for me but I'm sure we all have a pile of shame we're still working on during each video games drought. We'd probably be done now with our piles of shame if developers would stop repackaging games every year with a bigger number(*cough* MW3 *cough* Battlefield 3 *cough* sports games period *cough!*) or at least give their franchise a break for 2 or 3 years(looking at you Ubisoft and Assassin's Creed)!

[rattlesnake25]

true! its hard to finish the games. good article

[xX-StolenSoul-Xx]

Simple, just don't buy another game till you finish the one your playing now.

[Kee]

That is my philosophy for this autumn. It's gonna save me so much money. I'll just get all the other games after I've finished dark souls and skyrim. Should give the other games enough time to drop in price.

[BiggCMan]

I finish all of my games, 100% of the time. I guess i'm just different. I'm plenty busy just like the rest, i'm in college studying and doing school work. I don't have a job just yet, but i'm still fairly busy and I still find time to beat all of my games, even rentals from Gamefly.

[MidnytRain]

I only buy games roughly every two to three months. I do so because I don't like having games stacking up and feeling pressured to give them the time they deserve.

[JasonBloodbourne]

i fall into the same boat! never finished Resistance or Resistance 2. sometimes i get fed up with them as well i got about 5hrs into ff13 then couldn't beat one of the bosses that u capture or whatever and gave up then and i refuse to restart it! ninja gaiden 2 on xbox and ps3 gave up with lol! only game i ever went back too i think was ninja gaiden on the old xbox after 9 months of being stuck i restarted and then managed to get past the bit i was stuck on for so long. lol

[Peaceful_Jelly]

I understand people not finishing games like FFXIII or Elder Scroll but come on on! Games these days are soooo easy and short compared to prior gens. Games like Batman:AA, Uncharted, GeoW are easily beatable in like a day and they even have ultra casual difficulties.

[theonlylolking]

They need to release AAA games in the summer.

[MidnytRain]

You'd think someone would've done this by now. It seems that business patterns overule common sense. They think, "Well, the big games sell well in the fall, so we need to do like they do."

[xX-StolenSoul-Xx]

I guess, but usually during the summer i buy games i never bought during that year and usually just play those.

[ultimablackmage]

In my case I buy an average of 30 games per year on release and 6 back catalog games during the drought and since I live in Australia that means I spend AU$3200 per year on games, not including new consoles. I'm also a single man who has nothing but time on his hands and even I can't finish all the games I buy.

Why do I buy so many games on release? We'll most of those games only get limited stock in Australia or are preorder only so if I don't get it on release I'll miss out on it outside of the second hand market and it can even become rare there and I hate buying second hand games because no money goes to the people who worked on the games and it's over priced everywhere for years.

This is why we need print on demand games! If we could just order the games through the distributors, no game would even need to be discontinued. Sure you can say digital distribution is like that but I like to own my games not have the illusion of ownership and have it riddled with DRM.

Also while I remember, these are just the main examples. I'm sure there are other factors too like bordom or having to share with others. Surprised to see how many people said just buy leas games. I can see your point but considering the quality of TV shows and movies plus the reduced amount of bookstores thanks to those stupid, evil digital books there's very little quality entertainment outside of video games. It's sad really. Come to think of it even video games are kinda suffering because less games are worth replaying these days. That's probably the main reason I buy so many games a year, not many games worth replaying.

[TruthbeTold]

A lot of games just aren't worth finishing these days is another reason.

[lex-1020]

I have played well over 1000 games (I started with the NES and have owned almost every game console to date) and only never finished 2. I didn't finish Prototype and FF13. But Every other game I have.

[Tuxedo_Mask]

This is why I think one of the most underrated games this gen is Way of the Samurai 3. It has a lot of depth, but it can be beaten in a very short period of time. However, there are multiple endings, a lot of different weapons, costumes, and a few mini-games too. It can get a little repetitive after awhile, but it's a fun game to go back to from time to time.

Edit: Not that I don't like long games, or haven't finished any for that matter, but sometimes it's nice to have a game you can beat in a few hours and still be able mess around and have fun with it.