Gaming Why most people don't finish video games.

[tom_mai78101]

(CNN) -- Once considered a cult pastime, video games have grown immensely in the last 30 years to become a mainstream fixture alongside movies and music.

But you wouldn't know it by how often players finish their games.

In fact, the attrition (or bounce rate) of video games is pretty pathetic. "What I've been told as a blanket expectation is that 90% of players who start your game will never see the end of it unless they watch a clip on YouTube," says Keith Fuller, a longtime production contractor for Activision.

That's a lot of unfinished games.

And it doesn't get much better when isolated to just avid gamers.

"Just 10 years ago, I recall some standard that only 20% of gamers ever finish a game," says John Lee, VP of marketing at Raptr and former executive at Capcom, THQ and Sega.

Why most people don't finish video games

Once considered a cult pastime, video games have grown immensely in the last 30 years to become a mainstream fixture alongside movies and music.

edition.cnn.com

 

[Darthfett]

I only finish about 10% of games I play (but I play many). I think an analysis should be done on this, compared with the age of the gamer and/or the amount of time actually spent playing games. I bet many of the people who don't finish games don't play much.

 

[WildTurkey]

$10 says the more facebook friends a person has, the less likely they are too complete a game.

 

[xPass]

True, true...

 

[Inflicted]

Hmm, i'd have to agree with this.

 

[Jedimindtrixxx]

And it's not just dull games that go unfinished. Critically acclaimed ones do, too. Take last year's "Red Dead Redemption." You might think Rockstar's gritty Western would be played more than others, given the praise it enjoyed, but you'd be wrong.
Only 10% of avid gamers completed the final mission, according to Raptr, which tracks more than 23 million gaming sessions.
Let that sink in for a minute: Of every 10 people who started playing the consensus "Game of the Year," only one of them finished it.

wtf?! i got 100% completion in red dead, the ending especially was epic, how could they not finish it. if anything i thought it was too short

The future? Shorter games

so i am going to suffer because 90% of the population has ADD...
i beat most games at least twice through... :/ San Andreas ive beaten now like 7 times, diablo 2 like 500 times, starcraft 2 2 times, Starcraft bout 4 times, warcraft 3 about 3 times, warcraft 2 about 3 times, diablo 1 about 20 times, call of duty 4/WaW bout 5 each etc.
sure im all about multiplayer but cmon, single player is hella fun too
/dissapoint

 

[DarkRevenant]

The study fails to take into account that players tend to buy longer games or games with a better multiplayer lifespan simply because it's a big ticket item. Even if they never play through all the content, if it's a large, rich world, they'll be more likely to buy it. There's no reason for the future to be shorter games because it'll just give longer games a market advantage.

Don't say the Call of Duty games are short. They have lots of multiplayer hours, so that outweighs the short campaign.

 

[Wiseman_2]

Call of Duty is exactly a case in point here. Sure, the multiplayer is fun and I've sunk enough time into it, but the campaigns barely beat the 5-hour mark. I guess it's down to changing tastes as much as anything...

Personally I tend to complete practically every game I buy, but that's because I'm quite picky about what I buy. I buy maybe less than 10 games a year on average, and I'll often replay games later to complete the extra bits; it took me three years to complete TimeSplitters Future Perfect 100%, but then that's because there were so many more single player aspects on top of the campaign.

Plus, if a story is good enough then I'll want to replay it anyway at some point.

 

[Inflicted]

I think it's due to loss of interest, or that feeling of 'it looks soo cool' but when you play it it's repetitive and boring.

If it does not keep the player interest they shall quite easily get bored of it and continue to something more entertaining which they would rather replay than complete that previous game.

Tbh I do try to complete what I start, but in reality i probably only do about 10%.

Nowdays many players only play games for the Multiplayer and the Story Mode/Single Player is either only just touched or not played at all.

Shorter Single Player gives creator's more time to work on the gameplay and well release earlier. I see this as a positive improvement to future games.

This might seem odd, but this news will improve game design and game designers shall therefore focus on what sections are more important. This pleases me.:thup:

 

[Sevion]

List of games I've beaten:

Star Wars KOTOR - Xbox
Halo - Xbox
Halo 2 - Xbox
Halo 3 - Xbox 360
Jade Empire - Xbox
Pokemon (YRBGSC RUB SAPH) - Hellz yeah, Game Boys
Portal - PC
Portal 2 - PC
Diablo 2 LOD - PC
Diablo 1 - PC
Super Smash Bros. - N64
Aero Gauge - N64
Mortal Kombat 4 - N64
Yoshi's Story - N64
Super Mario Bros - (S)NES
Super Mario World - (S)NES
Super Mario World 2 - (S)NES
Super Mario World 3 - (S)NES

Games I wish I'd beaten:

Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon - N64
Donkey Kong 64 - N64
StarCraft II - PC
Dragon Age - PC
Dragon Age II - PC
World of Warcraft - PC (So my friends stop saying "Well who's level 85 and who's level 76?" since I quit)
Minecraft - PC (Hellz yeah. I need to beat it by remaking the entire generated world with my own self-built world)
StarCraft II Ladder - PC (I need to get GM 1 for an entire season x3 to "beat" SC2 Ladder Let's make that happen XD)
Diablo 1 - PC (I lied when I said "I" beat it I had my friends help me kill Diablo T_T)

 

[Accname]

I dont buy any games, i played only few, but i have beaten about all of them.

There are some games i did not finish, but its always because either i lose my save file (due to a memory card being damaged, a new computer, a virus, or whatever) or because i started playing the game together with a friend and he has no more time to play it.

Games i did not finish:
Baldurs Gate 1: I lost the CD
Baldurs Gate 2: I was almost at the last boss but then i lost my save file and i didnt want to start it ever again... too much time lost there.
Breath of Fire 3: Memory Card broken T_T
Dark Chronicle: Started with a friend, he had no time to finish it.
Starcraft 1: I am still on it! I play like 1 mission a month. Someday. . .
Conquest: Frontier Wars: i only play this game in multiplayer, i never even started the campaign although i saw my brother play through it and it looked pretty good!
Knights and Merchants: The Peasants Rebellion: This game is huge! A single mission takes between 3 and 6 hours, and there are like 34 of them @_@
Final Fantasy 12: The game is just boring, really, i saw it coming after the first hour that i wont ever finish the game.

Any more? I dont know. . .

Games i really liked playing through:
Yoshies Island <- Amongst the greatest games of all times
Super Mario Brothers <- Nothing but epic!
Super Smash Brothers <- Wasnt hard to beat, but still alot of fun!
Zelda Ocarina of Time <- Everybody who didnt finish the game is a douche.
Warcraft 3 RoC + TfT <- Believe it or not, i really loved the campaign.
Command & Conquer Tiberium Sun + Firestorm <- The best Sci-Fy RTS-Game Campaign i have ever seen, the atmo and storyline is incredible.
Final Fantasy 7 <- Way to easy, i 2 hitted the last boss (Omnislash = 15*9999 dmg + another attack)
Seiken Densetsu 3 <- This is the only game i had really fun beating like 3 times or more. A must play for every RPG fan.
The Lost Vikings <- My first blizzard game. It was HARD as hell, starcrafts AI is a joke compared to it.
Act Raiser <- Seriously, this game is unbeatable without cheats @_@. (Playing on an emulator is cheating in my opinion; save + load + save + load + save + load [...])

 

[Slayer4000X2008]

Nowdays many players only play games for the Multiplayer and the Story Mode/Single Player is either only just touched or not played at all.

I don't think that is entirely true. While lot's of people do buy games only for the multiplayer a large amount buy them for the singleplayer (campaign). Then you need to looks at the amount that buy for both. When you look at all the factors the people who buy for multiplayer are less then 50% (wouldn't know the exact percent). Though it is understandable to think most people buy for multiplayer because those are the ones seen, you won't see people playing singleplayer online because it doesn't go online.

 

[tom_mai78101]

The only games I will play:

All Pokemon main series RPG games.

The only games I will watch (Not play):

Speedruns.
TAS videos.
Mario hacks.
Yogscast.
Day9 Funday Mondays.
Occassional HuskyStarcraft commentary.

10% of my video games, ones that I finish, are Pokemon games.
90% of my video games, are the ones that I haven't played as addictive as the Pokemon games. I don't know why.

 

[thewrongvine]

Lame,

I usually try to finish games I buy, even if it takes years, ha.

Me likes single player. I mean, imagine a 5-hour Arkham Asylum?

 

[tom_mai78101]

Me lame? If yes, it's probably that the different groups of audiences are no longer wanting to play a video game with a large collection of collectables, and I'm part of that dying audience.

 

[FireCat]

That's a lot of unfinished games.

If a game have a dull story line or really repetitive with hell a lot of bugs on it
Well, seriously, It's no wonder no one would finish a game because of that!

 

[Inflicted]

To be fair, you guys arent the most 'average' gamers our there..

But i see your points.

@Slayer4000X2008
I think that nowdays people do not enjoy as much in Single Player as they do in Multiplayer. And that gaming has become a very social thing, i generally don't play Single Player games because they become alil dull by themself's, unless there is someway of comparing to a friend or competing. I'm sure alot of people feel this way, as they wouldn't mind playing say Diablo for hours by themselves and then joining their friends later with that same progress, or something to that effect.

The game has to be made very well in order for it to keep the player interested, and divert to play some other game. And I'm not dissagree'ing that some games do that very well. However not everyone is a die-hard fan that will play ALL of the game of a series from START to FINISH.

Most new gamer's play recent games and those which appeal conceptually or graphics-wise.

The idea of playing alone bores me. However I could spend hours playing some online game like CoD or DotA with people I do not even know, due to the fact that these are individual players that have different skill levels and styles of play. Therefore making the game not as repetitive as it could be in Single Player.

You can't deny the fact that most people who played Single Player games are now moving onto Multiplayer, as more games are becoming available for online play and much fewer are being produced for only Single Player.

There are a few games that are worth the effort of playing hours to complete, and that's where the amount of time/money you have and dedication towards that game come into account. These are obviously dependant on the individuals so shall be different in most cases.

I don't think that is entirely true. While lot's of people do buy games only for the multiplayer a large amount buy them for the singleplayer (campaign).

The amount of people that prefer Single Player over Multiplayer is decreasing. I am sure of it.
Years ago, Multiplayer was not as big as it is now.

When you look at all the factors the people who buy for multiplayer are less then 50% (wouldn't know the exact percent).

I'd love to know where you found out that. Don't guess please.

Though it is understandable to think most people buy for multiplayer because those are the ones seen, you won't see people playing singleplayer online because it doesn't go online.

Yes, you do not want to play something that nobody see's. That's why Facebook games have become so popular, because user's can interact with their friends that they would generally be talking to. People want to feel like they are achieving things when they play, people want their progress to be known. Multiplayer is much better in showing this.

--

I meant this in all good clean debate.

 

[Accname]

I think there are several different "kinds" of games, they all, and their fans, differ quite some.

There are silly little games which are meant to distract the player, to relax him. Mostly those browser games or low quality pc games which are almost give-away since they come within a magazine or something. Or maybe simple shooter or fighting games where your only objective is to beat the shit out of a big number of weak enemys.

Then there are the competitive [E-Sport] games, they focus on multiplayer and beating the shit out of noobs or people who are less experienced then you in general. Not just online games like Starcraft but games like super smash bros as well.

Then there are those "co-op" games where you hang out with friends, chat, and play together. Like WoW PvE servers, never winter nights, or other games which have a slow pace and need to be played with larger numbers of players.

And finally there are games which are more then just "a game" but for me rather like a piece of art. Its the next generation of media, at some point in time we had pictures, then words - books, then the radio, the television, and now we can express stories and feelings in games. Big RPG's like final fantasy series, baldurs gate or other similar games.

I think the last kind of games is the kind which people really like to play through because of the storyline. I used to read books, but i know, a good rpg, seiken densetsu 3 for example, can be just as good plus it has an action battle system. Oh yeah!

 

[Dan]

List of games I've beaten:

Star Wars KOTOR - Xbox
Halo - Xbox
Halo 2 - Xbox
Halo 3 - Xbox 360
Jade Empire - Xbox
Pokemon (YRBGSC RUB SAPH) - Hellz yeah, Game Boys
Portal - PC
Portal 2 - PC
Diablo 2 LOD - PC
Diablo 1 - PC
Super Smash Bros. - N64
Aero Gauge - N64
Mortal Kombat 4 - N64
Yoshi's Story - N64
Super Mario Bros - (S)NES
Super Mario World - (S)NES
Super Mario World 2 - (S)NES
Super Mario World 3 - (S)NES

Games I wish I'd beaten:

Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon - N64
Donkey Kong 64 - N64
StarCraft II - PC
Dragon Age - PC
Dragon Age II - PC
World of Warcraft - PC (So my friends stop saying "Well who's level 85 and who's level 76?" since I quit)
Minecraft - PC (Hellz yeah. I need to beat it by remaking the entire generated world with my own self-built world)
StarCraft II Ladder - PC (I need to get GM 1 for an entire season x3 to "beat" SC2 Ladder Let's make that happen XD)
Diablo 1 - PC (I lied when I said "I" beat it I had my friends help me kill Diablo T_T)

YOU HAVEN"T PLAYED Final Fantasy for SNES?!?! GO BACK IN TIME RIGHT NOW!

 

[ElderKingpin]

a lot of video games come with a multiplayer aspect, which is a pretty huge reason why a lot of people dont finish the campaign, e.g. starcraft II (although i didnt do it because i refused to play terran) most single player only games have a pretty robust storyline with over 20 hours of gameplay (witcher 2) but the problem is that you have to continue to add new content to the game so it doesnt become a snore fest, it has to bring something new to the table every hour or else people will just get sick of it