Most players don't finish games

Report suggests players have short attention spans

Words: Tom Goulter on August 23, 2011

Back to Article

70 comments

View as:
Newest first
Oldest first

EwoksTasteLikeChicken - August 23, 2011 2:58 p.m.

90% of people don't finish games? I find that very hard to believe. If I buy a game, even if I don't like it, I will at least finish it once.
- Reply
- Report
richardkish - August 23, 2011 2:57 p.m.

While it is incredibly sad, it is very true. Most gamers don't have the time to invest in really long running games, still, I'm a staunch supporter of 'If I've paid for it, I'll see it through to the end'. That's why I'm actively trying to clear my backlog of 14 games. I'll still get new ones, but I'm definitely finishing them before I continue to attack my backlog. If I had the mind set I have now when I was younger then my backlog wouldn't be nearly as huge, but there ya go.
- Reply
- Report
Y2Ken - August 23, 2011 2:54 p.m.

I tend to try and finish those games which have an end (sports/fighting being examples of ones which don't, although that's changing sort of with MK's story mode). That said, I have a few games at any time which I go back to and finish later. @Manguy17 - You make a valid suggestion, but I tend to buy 3 or 4 games over the space of a couple of weeks and then bounce between them until they're all done. It's rare that I play one game straight start to finish, especially if they're long. I will definitely be switching between Uncharted 3, Skyrim and MW3 come November. That said, I do finish pretty much all of those games I'm playing at once.
- Reply
- Report
thecresta - August 23, 2011 2:41 p.m.

This isn't a new thing - no-one has ever completed the original Donkey Kong...
- Reply
- Report
garnsr - August 23, 2011 2:13 p.m.

It's rare that I don't finish a game. I agree that Red Dead isn't the best choice for showing how few players finish games, I'd bet even Call of Duty games get finished most of the time, and other shorter single player games, calling out long, involving ones doesn't seem to help prove anything, really.
- Reply
- Report
Manguy17 - August 23, 2011 2:07 p.m.

Couple comments said somthing like " dont have time, bouncing between various games and then buying new ones" A better idea would be to buy game, finish game, buy new game, finish game and repeat. Saves you money and you will have more fun if you get the most out of a few games than paying full price for somthing that may as well be a 2 week rental
- Reply
- Report
SDHoneymonster - August 23, 2011 1:52 p.m.

And by maim, I of course mean main - I don't go around disfiguring game discs...
- Reply
- Report
SDHoneymonster - August 23, 2011 1:50 p.m.

To be fair, Red Dead isn't the best example to use - that last mission is squirreled away a bit. I found it by accident! But I do usually finish games - I used to get quite obsessive about it. There was a time when I'd only have one game on the go so I'd see it through to the bitter end, but I've relaxed that a bit. I've got a few unfinished ones on the shelf begging me to go back to them, but I either lost interest (F.E.A.R., Darksiders), I'm rubbish at them (Valkyria Chronicles), or it's just taking me a lot of time (here's looking at YOU, Demon's Souls...) but in the maim, I'm definitely a completer.
- Reply
- Report
Joco84 - August 23, 2011 1:43 p.m.

I have a habit of buying more games than I can play, so occasionally I do find myself stopping a game I haven't finished.
- Reply
- Report
sgloomy - August 23, 2011 1:33 p.m.

I finish every game that has a finishing point i guess, any game with a storyline can be finished, but I don't try to get every single car in NFS nor have I finished the play through of every character in ssf4 because, well, there is no real point. But i have never started a story based game and not have finished it, no matter how crappy it was (I'm looking at you Dante's Inferno). If I pay for a game, i want to know the ending
- Reply
- Report
Hecticvoodu - August 23, 2011 1:23 p.m.

Thats... awful. i find it hard NOT to finish a game once ive started
- Reply
- Report
chrisbos - August 23, 2011 1:07 p.m.

Not one of the people I hang around with knew that Red Dead had a last mission.
- Reply
- Report
F4G1TR0N - August 23, 2011 12:59 p.m.

I gotta admit, unless the story keeps me engaged I won't finish it, that and sometimes I just don't want to. I got quite a big list of games I'd wish to finish, but since my HDD doesn't want to cooperate ( It melted) all that data is kinda hard to repeat.
- Reply
- Report
FlyinMachine - August 23, 2011 12:58 p.m.

This is sad. Red Dead was AMAZING. One of the most compelling games, in my opinion. And I can't stand "Gamers" that don't ever finish games. They aren't gamers...
- Reply
- Report
KNITEpanda - August 23, 2011 1:29 p.m.

I don't get where you say "You're not a gamer unless you finish a game"....That's not what makes you a gamer. A gamer is someone who is playing a whole bunch of games as it is. Sometimes its hard for me to finish because I'm constantly bouncing around between different games with different friends and then new ones come out and the whole process repeats itself. You dont have to beat a game to be considered a gamer. Sorry.
- Reply
- Report
wampastompa - August 23, 2011 1:47 p.m.

Well, I'm a gamer, and I haven't finished Red Dead. Or FF XIII for that matter. Some of us "gamers" have jobs that only let us play a couple of hours a day at most, so it's hard to commit through a 50-hour game when there are multiple things you want to play. Sorry I can't join your gamer club :-/
- Reply
- Report
Pocotron - August 23, 2011 12:57 p.m.

Since I've been renting games more I don't feel that inclined to finish it. Every game I've bought I've finished however. And thanks for bringing that final mission in RDR back to memory ;_;
- Reply
- Report
chriszewski - August 23, 2011 12:56 p.m.

I am one of the 90% majority that hasn't finished RDR.
- Reply
- Report
Robx - August 23, 2011 2:03 p.m.

Same here, yet I'm not one who leaves games incomplete... I just know the game is damn long and that if I decide to try it again I'll be hooked up and stop existing in my society until it's done... and that would be long knowing Rockstar.
- Reply
- Report
c_sheridan - August 23, 2011 12:52 p.m.

RDR might be a poor example to draw from, depending on what you count as the "final mission." The game has a cinematic ending and then an epilogue -- I could see a lot of players who finish the main story missing the epilogue entirely since you have to specifically search it out. Either way, the overall trend seems pretty realistic.
- Reply
- Report