The lights are on
A report just published on CNN.com gives some surprising numbers regarding how many players actually finish games.In the article, author Blake Snow quotes Activision production contractor Keith Fuller, who says, "What I've been told as a blanket expectation is that 90 percent of players who start your game will never see the end of it unless they watch a clip on YouTube."John Lee, VP of marketing at Raptr and formerly of Capcom, THQ, and Sega, says that "bounce rates" (players that quit a game before completion) have risen in recent years. "Just 10 years ago, I recall some standard that only 20% of gamers ever finish a game," says Lee.Lee's company, Raptr, is an online service that tracks players' online play sessions and achievements. According to Raptr's internal data, only 10 percent of people who played Rockstar's epic Red Dead Redemption (shown above) completed the final mission.While it should be noted that this data is only from players who are a part of Raptr, and should't be considered as such, I can say that the 10-20 percent completion rate gibes with numbers that several people in the game industry have told me over the years.The article gives several reasons for this trend. One, as the gaming population continues to age (the average age of a gamer today is 37 years old), time becomes a more precious resource to gamers engaged in parenthood, careers, and other activities.Secondly, the rise of online multiplayer mean that players often spend less time with a game's single-player component. Other factors include other digital distractions like Facebook, smartphones, and Twitter.While this article isn't the last word on the subject, due to a lack of hard numbers to back up some of the claims, it does seems to strike at a phenomenon that is real – at least in a growing segment of the gaming population.What do you think? Do you often abandon games before you complete them?Source: CNN.com
Email the author Matt Helgeson, or follow on Twitter, and Game Informer.
I've beaten the majority of games I own. If I didn't beat it yet, means I proabbly didn't get to really playing it yet. I've got some backlog I need finish, but whatever I actually put the time again, I finish it. I recently just beat Borderlands(which I platinumed), along with it's 4 DLC packs, and Darksiders. (thanks to most recent Gi issue, I felt inspired to play the original which I picked up for cheap. Really close to getting a platinum.)
It is very rare for me not to finish a game. The main reason for me not to finish one though is that I'll buy a used game to hold me over until a big release and can't finish it before release day. Happened with both Mercenaries games.
I was depressed last time I counted the amount of unfinished games I have. though quite a few of them are Steam games I got on some of there deals. Though I have a bad habit stopping a game once a new one I want comes out. Some I just get stuck on. I try to finish games and I've finished quite a few, but I still need to finish games like Dead Space, Sonic Colors, Metroid Prime, ect.
I always finish games because I wanna get the most out of the game
I always try to complete a game. That being said, there are games that I haven't beaten, be it due to how long I had the game (renting or borrowing) or that I just got lazy and didn't want to finish.
if a game is boring, then no, I'm not finishing it. I'm looking at you crysis.
The only reason I will not finish a game is because I am currently playing another game - I'll eventually go back and complete it. Story is a huge, continuously growing part of the industry. I hope these figures are at least fairly off...everyone's getting sucked into f---ing Facebook.
I'm not gonna lie. I have a growing back log of unfinished games. Not for lack of trying. I just don't always have the time I wish I had to devote to finishing some games. That being said, I do finish more games than not.
While I do have a back log of games, I try to finish each and every one. It is understandable though; there are just so many games now that it's hard to keep up. That's not a bad thing, but it can be if too many come out at the same time, making it hard on gamer's wallets.
I remember seeing a similar story to this about 6 months ago where Raptr was claiming their personal statistics as fact. This can be explained in many possible ways.
1) Raptr statistics represent a small portion of the total gaming population, therefore proposing their personal stats as fact is dumb.
2) Singleplayer has become a backdrop in light of multiplayer, so games that a majority of people play, such as Battlefield, Call of Duty, etc either are made for multiplayer as the selling point, or just have terrible single player experiences (*cough* Call of Duty).
3) Games that are indeed designed for singleplayer, such as The Witcher 2, Fallout, etc, people get lost doing side quests and, since the games require many hours to beat, people get bored sometimes and move on. For example, I played The Witcher 2 until the middle of Act I, quit for awhile to play Fable III, which took awhile to beat due to the gold requirements to be the good guy, and then went back to The Witcher 2.
i finish every game i start other wise theres no point getting it
Rarely will I ever not complete a game (at least to the ending). If I do, its only because I could not pull myself into the world or find a character to relate with. Most of the time I'll try and push myself to finish anything I start, whether it be a book, TV show, film, or game.
This probably has to do with the mindset I created once I left high school and realized procrastination is quite possibly the worst flaw of mine.
I beat any of my games that I see a good story or that doesn't get old like Valve games and games with a fun story like kingdom Hearts.In fact, Portal 2 is the only game that I've been able to actually get all the trophies and have fun doing so lol
Only 1 game I haven't "beaten" is Dead rising 2 overtime mode. Anyways I beat my games that I get in one day or at most 2 or 3 plus RDR was a long game with mexico being so very very boring I thought the game would've ended after the fort
I feel like a lot of these are just people who will buy a game because it looks cool or intrigues them, play it for a while, and then just moves on. Not necessarily a casual gamer, but not hardcore to where they feel like they should finish a game.
I buy and play a lot of games, and unless I made a horrible mistake and a game is terrible (which hasn't happened to me in years) I make every effort to finish it.
NO NEVER!!! If i get a game i plan to beat it
Due to my work schedule and my children, I'm lucky to play a game for 2 hours much less to completion. I would say in the last 3 years I have played close to 50-60 games and have only completed Chronology Trigger (DS) Splinter Cell Conviction and Mortal Kombat. Staying up late to play is hard to do.
ill beat all games i play with the exception of rpgs. I cant spend 100 hours on one game. I could beat at least 5 games instead.THe one game ive beaten 5 times is uncharted.
As I've gotten older, I've started finishing more games because I want to get the most out of my purchases.