Most people who buy games on Steam never play them • Hacker News Board

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

#221

Post by D13Fd » Tue, Jul 15, 2025, 4:06 PM UTC

qnleigh wrote: post #136

D13Fd wrote: post #80

I have a huge backlog of games I’ve bought on sale knowing I would enjoy them, but never got around to playing them. It’s well over 50% of my game library. The problem for me is that a good game that you really like can easily eat multiple thousands of hours. It’s just a time consuming hobby. And it takes a lot of effort to get started on a new game. I can’t help but think “wouldn’t I rather spend that time improving…

Literally thousands?? A 40-hour work week for a year is ~2000 hours. Out of curiosity, what's your rough 'playing schedule'?

I’ll put 3-4 hours into gaming from around 8:30-12:30 pm after the kids go to bed. It takes the place of most TV, movies, or social media for me. On the weekends it can be a bit more. I also do competitive gaming and during the comp seasons I have some later nights.

That has been my schedule since 2008 or so, and it adds up (or so my Steam numbers tell me).

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

#222

Post by xingped » Wed, Jul 16, 2025, 2:41 AM UTC

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…

It amazes me that the community still tolerates the sloppy butcher that is the automated HN headline editor. An absolute embarrassment is what it is.

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

#223

Post by tgv » Wed, Jul 16, 2025, 10:29 AM UTC

whynotmaybe wrote: post #170

tgv wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Synthesizers (and related stuff, such as effects or virtual instruments) qualify too. I don't know if there are other instruments which trigger this behavior.

More than just instrument. GAS exists in Photography, cycling, camping, DIY, automotive repair,... It's linked to the dopamine anticipation loop that buying an item feels like you're making progress.

I was aware of photography. But it's remarkable that guitars and synths seem to be the only two instruments.

> It's linked to the dopamine anticipation loop that buying an item feels like you're making progress.

I'm not fond of such explanations. The brain is so much more than dopamine. I don't think there's even a thorough explanation linking buying a guitar and dopamine, let alone one that can link it purely to dopamine. Buying is not a loop either.

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

#224

Post by wink » Wed, Jul 16, 2025, 1:18 PM UTC

latexr wrote: post #111

throw101010 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to clarify, I have the same usage and it's because I "pirate" games and only buy the ones that I play more than once/couple hours. I don't trust and nor like the refund policies/processes and all kinds of fences they implement, and often even after I have bought a game I will keep using the pirated version because it is more convenient (offline play, no need to login and it's already installed... when games are…

> I don't trust and nor like the refund policies/processes and all kinds of fences they implement Steam is pretty reasonable. If you bought a game in the past 14 days and played fewer than 2 hours, you can get a refund for any reason. You need only go to your recent purchases, “report a problem”, and with a couple of clicks you’re done. If works incredibly well and with no hassle, I have done it a number of times for…

One exception: sometimes it counts the launcher running (and downloading more stuff), but it's rare for some games, mostly MMOs. So I have personally seen how people did not manage to log in before the 2h were up.

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

#225

Post by ASalazarMX » Wed, Jul 16, 2025, 7:15 PM UTC

sfn42 wrote: post #63

ASalazarMX wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correlates with my experience. Sometimes sales are so attractive you buy several games for cheap, or even an entire franchise, but playing them all can take enough time that another sale comes again. Red Dead Redemption 2 has been collecting digital dust in my library because I'm still playing Fallout 76. I stopped buying more because it feels wrong.

You should play RDR2, it's absolutely phenomenal. That and Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 are the best role playing games I've played in the past decade.

I know, but I can't deal with two massive RPGs right now. It doesn't help that a multiplayer RPG like Fallout 76 multiplies the role playing opportunities.