Most Players Don’t Finish Games

Personally, I think most games these days dont have the novelty they once did.
The fact that gaming culture is mainstream is definately making less games interesting.

Could also be due to my age and the fact I'm not trying to avoid doing homework now....
 
I've played nearly three thousand hours of Team Fortress 2.
I do not have 100% achievements.

Did I beat the game?
 
I don't.
Any single game I started (and had in my possession for enough time) I finished the main story, even if I didn't like it.
I rarely 100% a game, though.
 
Poor article. I have played through ME3 twice (two different characters) and repeated some missions more than that. This includes all DLC (aside from one character, will get to that). I probably have less than half of the achievements. They are not things to do in a game and should not count towards completion.
 
What I don't understand it how this can be "based wholly on Steam Achievements." seeing as Mass Effect 3 has never been on Steam. :confused:
 
Who cares about achievements? F'in stupid. I have completed about 10 games in the last few years and most of them on are that list. Why the hell would I waste my time chasing achievements?? No offense, but anyone chasing achievements needs to get out and socialize more.
 
My biggest problem is I never start them. I've started probably 20% of the games in my library. I do usually finish them eventually but never get all of the achievements do to not caring.
 
There's a difference between finishing games and 100% completion. I'll play through story mode and side missions, but finding 1,000 hidden doodads just for an achievement doesn't interest me.
What is the metric for "completion"? Does every game have an achievement that directly corresponds to "finished the game's main story-line?". Counting 100% achievement completion as "game completion" is bullshit.

Also, if their sample pool is only the nine listed games, I call bullshit times infinity :p
Can't read can you.

That's the % of people who got the achievement tied to finishing the game. Not the % of achievements on avg a player has.
OMFG again this article is not talking about 100% achievements.
Someone who can read:D

Seriously it's not hard to check
portal 1
http://steamcommunity.com/stats/Portal/achievements/
heartbreaker achivement, complete portal 46.5%
 
There's a difference between finishing games and 100% completion. I'll play through story mode and side missions, but finding 1,000 hidden doodads just for an achievement doesn't interest me.

what don said. i've played the crap out of a lot of games, never get all achievements on any.

I think they just looked at the achievements that one would get upon finishing each game. Not 100% of the achievements.
 
I recently got 100% of the achievements in Deus Ex HR... one of my favorite games ever. I could never get sick of that story and world.
 
What part of "Based Wholly on Steam Achievements" don't you understand? How are you so sure?

Borderlands 2 is 30%, see:
http://steamcommunity.com/stats/Borderlands2/achievements/

Look at "Cool Story, Bro" achievement which is 29.9% right now... the achievement for killing Jack aka finishing the game.

Or scroll all the way down to see achievements with <1% of people getting them... in which case it would be impossible for 30% of people to have gotten all achievements.
 
i finish. but i buy more games than i can plays omost of them sit not even started.
 
I think this is a problem many people have.

You get a game, you play it, you even enjoy it, but after a while if the story doesn't grip you and the gameplay gets repetitive in nature you will lose focus and before too long another "new" game is out you want to tryand you move on.

Happens to me all the time, one of the main reasons I almost NEVER finish a GTA game or AC game, both have a lot of "similar" repetitive "game'isms" that can sap out your push to see the entire story and everything through after you've done the same thing over and over and over and over and over.
 
Who doesn't finish Portal. That's asinine.

Agreed!

If I finish any more than 10% of a game I end up playing until the end... although many haven't made it to that mark as they have been trash or lacked something for whatever reason (Bioshock Infinite made that list.)
 
+1

Portal was the only game on that list I did finish. Some because I didn't enjoy (bioshock infinite) and others because I'm constantly wanting to change something about my char (skyrim) :)
 
Who doesn't finish Portal. That's asinine.

It is not clear on exactly how Steam data works, or at least I'm not exactly clear.

Eg for Borderlands 2 only 30% of people got "Cool Story, Bro" for finishing the game, and 30% is what article uses. However only 76% got "First One's Free" which is given for beating the first mission.

It might be that 24% of the people who have Borderlands 2, have not even started to play it. While 30% of the people who have the game finished it, closer to 40% of the people who beat the first mission then went on to finish the game.

Anyways with the number of bundles Portal is in, and many Steam games, people build up large libraries and have lots of games they've not yet played. It seems realistic that many of those who didn't finish Portal also haven't started it, they just happen to own the game.
 
There are only a handful of games I got half-way through before calling it quits: GTA Vice City, Xenogears, Kingdom Hearts, Anachronox... these games, while regarded as "great" by so many folks, just didn't keep my attention due to weak story/characters and/or weak controls/gameplay... sucks because I tend to like other games like these
 
This is nothing new. Seems still the majority of gamers are all about the multiplayer and could care less if they finish a game (single player) or not. I'm not in this category. I'm a dedicated single player dude, multiplayer just never was my thing (homey don't multiplay and homey don't tweet). I'm all about he story and atmosphere and getting immersed at my own pace. I do finish my games and replay most all of them. If on the rare occasion I don't finish a game, it means it's pretty god damn bad!
 
Borderlands 2 is 30%, see:
http://steamcommunity.com/stats/Borderlands2/achievements/

Look at "Cool Story, Bro" achievement which is 29.9% right now... the achievement for killing Jack aka finishing the game.

Or scroll all the way down to see achievements with <1% of people getting them... in which case it would be impossible for 30% of people to have gotten all achievements.
I'm amazed it's that low, i didn't play boarderlands 2 but that seems really low, i guess the story is pretty half assed.

Mass effect 1, 2 and 3 i know i've 100% hell i still have the saves after all these years for 1 and 2 migrated from hdd to hdd.
 
MASS EFFECT 2 and 3??????????

That series was the best EVER!!!

the 1st one is the hardest to finish. Once you are sucked in the just want more and more. why couldn't there have been a 4th..... jkawhdfjklhasjdfbvjka
 
Boringlands 2 just became a grind towards the end. 30% achievements? doesn't surprise me at all.

Achievements will always feel synthetic and not a real measurement of fun.
 
I rarely finish games because they keep getting longer and longer as time goes by. It doesn't help that people complain that x number of hours to complete them isn't long enough. I love Skyrim but I had to stop after 200 hour because I figured I could play that game for thousands of hours and still never complete everything.
 
MASS EFFECT 2 and 3??????????

That series was the best EVER!!!

the 1st one is the hardest to finish. Once you are sucked in the just want more and more. why couldn't there have been a 4th..... jkawhdfjklhasjdfbvjka
Mass effect 1 was hard to finish in part because of all the glitches :D Also fucking mako
 
ME1 was tough in the end with that messed up gravity crap, it was great, I never wanted to beat a game so bad before.
 
Assassin's creeds memory fragments are a perfect example of meaningless grind objects.
 
I have games I go through the single player campaign and don't have time to die over and over online to a 12 year old, and yes that is what happens, I'm horrible at multiplayer. Some of these games to get 100% you have to play the multiplayer side of things.
 
So, does anybody else just see this as game producers looking for excuses for lack of content and short game lengths, while maintaining premium prices?
 
+1 on gaming shouldn't be a job, the last game I completed was starcraft 2. All the new games look good but feels like a job, achieve this for a new gun or armor, forget this I have better things to do than work for crap that doesn't help much. personally I would rather just do co-op in a lan area but you can't do that anymore, or play a game without having to have internet connection. i think those days are gone.

I think l4D2 should let you do that :)
 
It is not clear on exactly how Steam data works, or at least I'm not exactly clear.

Eg for Borderlands 2 only 30% of people got "Cool Story, Bro" for finishing the game, and 30% is what article uses. However only 76% got "First One's Free" which is given for beating the first mission.

It might be that 24% of the people who have Borderlands 2, have not even started to play it. While 30% of the people who have the game finished it, closer to 40% of the people who beat the first mission then went on to finish the game.

Anyways with the number of bundles Portal is in, and many Steam games, people build up large libraries and have lots of games they've not yet played. It seems realistic that many of those who didn't finish Portal also haven't started it, they just happen to own the game.
I'm with you on this one. I don't think this data can be taken as the gospel simply because there are a lot of people who impulse-buy games when they go on sale and then they sit in their backlog. The article says nothing about the actual presentation than this sound bite, so I'm wondering if they actually pointed out that there is also a significant portion of game owners that don't even play the games they own. I'm guilty of this myself, but I am making an effort to at least play through the main story of the games I own since I am the kind of gamer who needs to get and see everything.

Yet another point to consider is how many people are always playing games on Steam while offline? They obviously can't track the stats of people who don't go online while playing games.
So, does anybody else just see this as game producers looking for excuses for lack of content and short game lengths, while maintaining premium prices?
I posted this concern back on the second page, but it got drowned out by the people saying this was only tracking those who unlocked 100% of the achievements :rolleyes:.
 
i have approximately 308 games on steam. I'd be surprised if I finished 5 of them. The issue is time.

There are some times where I can play 40 hours in a week. And other times where I don't play for 3 months. So I was playing BC2 & put it down for 3 months. I come back to it & have no idea/remember what I'm supposed to be doing in the next mission, what the storyline is, etc...
 
Finish games?! Hell, I barely even start 'em.. I have (4) unopened PS4 games.. Opening them almost becomes more of a responsibility than enjoyment.. "Ehh crap, I gotta take time to play THIS game TOO now..."

First world problems.
 
When Final Fantasy 7 came out back when I was sporting a pair of Voodoo 2 in SLI, I was having a blast with that game until into the 4th disc, my hard drive seized up and died. I didn't want to play the whole damn game over again.

Fast forward to 3 months ago I bought the game through PSN on my PS3 and finally played through it and kicked Sephiroth's ass.

Other than Final Fantasy 7, I'm not sure if I recall ever finishing games. Then again I don't buy many to begin with. Return to Castle Wolfenstein? Didn't finish. Duke Nukem Forever? Didn't finish. Age of Empire Online? Nope. Torchlight II? Barely played over an hour.

Unless you count in MMORPG. I made a few 80 toons and Jedi pre-CU in SWG (quit when NGE released), I reached level 70 in WoW, then 80 after WOTLK and geared up (haven't played for about 4 years now).
 
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