Comments on: If somebody buys your game, there’s about 42% chance he plays it

By: JustinP

JustinP — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:58:22 +0000

In addition to the reasons you listed above, I definitely buy with the intention of playing. However, with the advent of real life I often just don’t have time to play all the games I want to.

By: DIO

DIO — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:38:23 +0000

To be honest… some offers on steam are just IMPOSSIBLE to not accept. Like the other day I bought dead space 1 and 2, for 6 pounds… i played the first one abit, though if i don’t play the second one within the month i probably won’t get around to it… ever

By: hermitC

hermitC — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:11:02 +0000

Not intended, just hit and run. :)

By: Juuso

Juuso — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:15:42 +0000

Or just refund 50% of the buyers?

By: hermitC

hermitC — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:18:24 +0000

What an idea for an experiment! Just roll out a trailer, a fancy website, some faked screenshots and a downloadable binary. Let’s see how much money comes in until people recognize it’s a scam.

By: Rob

Rob — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:21:23 +0000

Well one reason I have a lot of games I didn’t play yet (or maybe won’t ever) is that they came as a bundle on steam. So in those bundles there will always be games I’m not interested in and won’t play but they essentially came free with the bundle.

But I like bundles because occasionally there’s a hidden gem in there I wouldn’t have otherwise known about! That more than makes up for all the games I’m not going to play.

By: Greg Dunn

Greg Dunn — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 11:29:26 +0000

I’ve got some games that I’ve bought on Steam and haven’t played. It’s for various reasons — some of those are mentioned above, like supporting game development or a certain developer or engine (I bought Rochard because it was built with Unity 3D, and it won a lot of awards but I just haven’t had time to fire it up yet) or because they’re on one of those crazy good steam sales where things are 75% off to save for later or because it was part of a bundle (Humble Indie, of course!)

As a rule, though, it’s got to be something that looks interesting or I’ve heard good things about. The main issue for me is time. I’ve got a family, I’m a fulltime freelance programmer and I just released my first game (it’s about running over clowns) and I just don’t have the time to explore/play games as much as I’d like.

I’ve been playing games since they were available to play in the home and I love them, but I also realize the more time I spend playing games, the less time I spend making them. Dividing time up between work and family is difficult enough, but then when I’ve got “free time” to do whatever I’d like, I can play a game or I can write some code. If I get really deep into a game, then I’m going to end up playing it more and not working on my game as much. That’s the reason that many of those games sit untouched.

Also, at least for me — even though I have a bunch of them that I haven’t ever played for more than 2 hours currently, I don’t expect those games to sit untouched forever. As I have time, I explore different ones and might play one for a few weeks and then nothing for a month or two as I get busy and/or focus on my game(s).

It’s interesting to hear that other game developers do this, too. I’m curious to see what thoughts/reasons other people have.