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Most people who buy games on Steam never play them

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Re: Most people who buy games on Steam never play them

#21

Post by xandrius »

mort96 wrote: post #14

The title is a misreading of the data. It's not that "most people who buy games on Steam never play them". It's that most games people buy remain unplayed. A tiny, tiny minority of people who buy games of Steam never play games they buy on Steam. EDIT: Apparently, this error was introduced by the HN submission! The title of the article on the website is: "Most people who buy your game won’t play it". This matches the…

I re-read your comment 5 times and I still don't see the difference you're trying to highlight.

What I got is: people buy games and they don't play most of them. Is it wrong?

Re: Most people who buy games on Steam never play them

#22

Post by bigstrat2003 »

shmerl wrote: post #11

I have a backlog of games, so lately I buy only if I plan to play it. I don't use bundles - that's the source of most the unplayed games.

Yeah, I used to do bundles like the Humble Indie Bundle back in the day, but most of those games just became unplayed entries in my steam library. These days I'm a lot choosier about games I buy - it has to be either a game I plan to play right away, or a game I'm certain I'm going to play later and is on sale. Otherwise, I have too many unplayed games to keep dropping money on more.

Re: Most people who buy games on Steam never play them

#23

Post by Kinrany »

mort96 wrote: post #14

The title is a misreading of the data. It's not that "most people who buy games on Steam never play them". It's that most games people buy remain unplayed. A tiny, tiny minority of people who buy games of Steam never play games they buy on Steam. EDIT: Apparently, this error was introduced by the HN submission! The title of the article on the website is: "Most people who buy your game won’t play it". This matches the…

Which can be perfectly rational even financially when discounts are >50%.

Re: Most people who buy games on Steam never play them

#24

Post by masklinn »

marcyb5st wrote: post #4

Personally, I have a ton of unplayed games because of Humble Bundle. Like I would buy the bundle for 1 game, and the other 9 came with it. For some of them I would redeem the coupon just in case.

That and sales, especially the old ones with dailies, you'd see a game at 90% off and you'd go "uh that looks fine I can swing $2 for it" but might never actually get around to playing it.

Re: Most people who buy games on Steam never play them

#25

Post by yndoendo »

28304283409234 wrote: post #8

Dito with books, side projects, courses on udemy, ... It is not a game thing. It is a human thing.

Some cultures even have a word for it, like the Japanese; Tsundoku [0]

Buying the tools are a step to step to fulfillment. It is easier to buy the step to fulfillment then walk the path.

Then again, some books are one offs and only used for a small portion, not full consumption.

[0] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44981013

Re: Most people who buy games on Steam never play them

#26

Post by masklinn »

nemomarx wrote: post #2

I use a tracker to try and fight this, showing how many games I've started and also achievement progress in them in aggregate. But I also buy a lot of books I intend to read later, so I almost think it's inherent to digital copies? The less friction in storing them the easier it is to buy aspirationally.

> But I also buy a lot of books I intend to read later, so I almost think it's inherent to digital copies?

Nah, it also occurs plenty with physical copies. Look up tsundoku.

Re: Most people who buy games on Steam never play them

#27

Post by tomw1808 »

Like courses on udemy. Most people buy a ton of courses probably for the feeling of having bought a course. Which translates apparently to already halfway there becoming that expert the courses promises you to become. Or they build a catalog and sell the account (on udemy).

Re: Most people who buy games on Steam never play them

#28

Post by cAtte_ »

mort96 wrote: post #14

The title is a misreading of the data. It's not that "most people who buy games on Steam never play them". It's that most games people buy remain unplayed. A tiny, tiny minority of people who buy games of Steam never play games they buy on Steam. EDIT: Apparently, this error was introduced by the HN submission! The title of the article on the website is: "Most people who buy your game won’t play it". This matches the…

the original title is "Most people who buy your game won’t play it", which is actually equivalent to what you're saying (even though it still says 'most people'!). HN mods edit titles to avoid clickbait and the like, which can end up like this

Re: Most people who buy games on Steam never play them

#29

Post by idopmstuff »

xandrius wrote: post #21
mort96 wrote: post #14

The title is a misreading of the data. It's not that "most people who buy games on Steam never play them". It's that most games people buy remain unplayed. A tiny, tiny minority of people who buy games of Steam never play games they buy on Steam. EDIT: Apparently, this error was introduced by the HN submission! The title of the article on the website is: "Most people who buy your game won’t play it". This matches the…

I re-read your comment 5 times and I still don't see the difference you're trying to highlight. What I got is: people buy games and they don't play most of them. Is it wrong?

The title of the post indicates that most people who buy games on Steam never play a single game that they have purchased (vs. your correct understanding of the data, which is that people buy games and play some but not all of them).

Re: Most people who buy games on Steam never play them

#30

Post by LikesPwsh »

xandrius wrote: post #21
mort96 wrote: post #14

The title is a misreading of the data. It's not that "most people who buy games on Steam never play them". It's that most games people buy remain unplayed. A tiny, tiny minority of people who buy games of Steam never play games they buy on Steam. EDIT: Apparently, this error was introduced by the HN submission! The title of the article on the website is: "Most people who buy your game won’t play it". This matches the…

I re-read your comment 5 times and I still don't see the difference you're trying to highlight. What I got is: people buy games and they don't play most of them. Is it wrong?

% of people vs % of games.

A single person who "collects" games or buys them because it seems like good value can have thousands of titles in their steam library. Someone who actually plays all of them will have a much smaller number.

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