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How many hours of gameplay should a $60 game give you?
- Thread starter TheGhost
- Start date
There's no fixed number. If it's on the short side, it should have excellent replay value.
I 100%ed God of War and haven't played it since. That was a good and satisfying experience that didn't feel excessively bloated to me.
Other players might choose to charge through the main story and then jump right into New Game+ to clear out all the side content. That would be a lot of fun too, well worth $60.
I 100%ed God of War and haven't played it since. That was a good and satisfying experience that didn't feel excessively bloated to me.
Other players might choose to charge through the main story and then jump right into New Game+ to clear out all the side content. That would be a lot of fun too, well worth $60.
It's never really been about the amount of hours of content the game has, and more about whether or not the content is of high enough quality to be worth the time and money spent. Ultimately, I'm more likely to spend more time in a game (and therefore think I got my money's worth) if I think that the game is really good.
With more and more games nowadays aiming for games as a service I don't feel like judging amount of time played vs the price is even valid anymore. As long as I'm happy to pay the amount and I enjoy the game at all - I'm fine with that.
It depends on the game and genre. The games I'd normally pay $60 for have been RPGs and other games with open worlds.
I scale it by the cost of a matinee or full price ticket for a two hour movie. Not that it works as well these days as it use to.
I scale it by the cost of a matinee or full price ticket for a two hour movie. Not that it works as well these days as it use to.
For me, the right answer isn't in the poll: it's however long a game needs to be.
If a 50 hour game can justify that length by giving me enough variation in gameplay and levels etc. then 50 hours is just fine. If a 50 hour game is just a few hours of content repeated to that length then it's not fine.
If a game is 8 hours but filled with amazing design and no repetition, that's perfectly fine too. In fact those games are the ones that I would want to replay in the future, thus in a way having much higher replayability than longer games.
Any length is fine as long as the game can justify it.
If a 50 hour game can justify that length by giving me enough variation in gameplay and levels etc. then 50 hours is just fine. If a 50 hour game is just a few hours of content repeated to that length then it's not fine.
If a game is 8 hours but filled with amazing design and no repetition, that's perfectly fine too. In fact those games are the ones that I would want to replay in the future, thus in a way having much higher replayability than longer games.
Any length is fine as long as the game can justify it.
Enough to satisfy the customer. I lost interest with long games. Give me 10-12 hour games. But make them replayable, or at least make me want to replay, or keep playing, them.
Perfect example - I have 8 hours in Skyrim. I have no idea what I've done or where I'm at, but I know that I'm nowhere close to finishing the game. I have 97 hours in Resident Evil 2. It's a short campaign, but I've replayed it a boatload. I've also played the other modes a good amount. There's also unlockables and achievements that aren't completely out of reach.
Perfect example - I have 8 hours in Skyrim. I have no idea what I've done or where I'm at, but I know that I'm nowhere close to finishing the game. I have 97 hours in Resident Evil 2. It's a short campaign, but I've replayed it a boatload. I've also played the other modes a good amount. There's also unlockables and achievements that aren't completely out of reach.
That's like judging a movie after it's length... As long as the game is great it doesn't matter how long it is.
16-25 is my sweet spot. Of meaningful, no-filler content. Anything less and I wait for a discount. FFXV is a major culprit here. It was padded put but could be finished in less than 5 hours.
I hope FFVII dont do that or I will just wait for sales.
I hope FFVII dont do that or I will just wait for sales.
Most movies are 90 minutes to just over 2 hours, it's been a standard for many years with the odd excpetion of course. If a game came out that was completed in 6 hous you bet this will impact it no matter how good it is if it's $60.
You dont pay 60$ for a theatre or blue ray. If a game came out for 60$ at 2 hours long, i would literally wait until its a free giveaway and spam bad reviews on that shit.
A Broadway musical can come close, especially if you factor in a drink. A music live act the same.
Which is why I don't do this kind of entertainment. Way overpriced.
OP
OP
Ok that's fair but at that same time it's not $60 day 1 purchase either.
I bought Gungrave for 60€ and didn't have a problem with it being like 1,5 hours long. So no, it doesn't impact me as long as the game is really good. Some of my favorite games are 5 to 8 hours long. I take that over 100 hours of bloat.
It can be as many, or as few, hours as needed to make a compelling game. I'd happily pay $60 for a 3-4 hour game that is a magical experience like Portal or Her Story.
There's no fixed amount of hours but i wouldnt buy a short, low replay value game for full 60$ dollars. Era can go all "its worth it if its the best ten minutes of my life!" but i can find way better ways of spending 400R$ and have more than ten good minutes. Seems folks forget not everyone here is american sometimes, 60 dollars might seem like cheap change to you but it can be a lot in other countries
A 26 to 50-hour experience seems fair for a $60 purchase. But most games don't come close to that unless they are RPGs. And most of those surpass the 50-hour mark.
I really don't judge game length by the time it takes to complete, but the fullness of the adventure it takes you on.
Some games are technically endless and still wouldn't be worth $60, *stares over at the dead Anthem threads*.
Some games are technically endless and still wouldn't be worth $60, *stares over at the dead Anthem threads*.
Isn't that a PS2 game? Times have changed and most people consume things differently now.
Enough of a good time to justify the price. The length in time doesn't matter for me until the quality is measured first, and then the value of that time is determined in hindsight, or as a measure of worth to return to a game I finished or used to play (an MMORPG, for example).
For instance, last time I played FFXIV two years ago, I had a great time but also happened to put a lot of time into the game, so paying ~$40 for a three-month subscription renewal and another $40 to pre-order the expansion that's right around the corner is justifiable based on the previous experience.
If I pay $60 and don't find a single second of it engaging, then it's money (and time) lost, even if the game guarantees a certain high amount of hours played.
For instance, last time I played FFXIV two years ago, I had a great time but also happened to put a lot of time into the game, so paying ~$40 for a three-month subscription renewal and another $40 to pre-order the expansion that's right around the corner is justifiable based on the previous experience.
If I pay $60 and don't find a single second of it engaging, then it's money (and time) lost, even if the game guarantees a certain high amount of hours played.
Why is it crazy? It's not really that surprising to me.
I mean I understand if you can't afford games very often and I guess you wanna get the most bang for your buck, regardless of the quality of the experience.
I remember buying Vanquish for 60 bucks and being done with it in one sitting and just thinking holy shit what a fucking game. Whereas I bought Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion day 1 and never really enjoyed it all that much despite putting about 40 hours into it.
I spent 60$ on RE2 without regret, quality over quantity imo. A short game can also highen replay value for me, as I'm often put off a >50 hour game because of time limitation.
Can't really make any blanket statements about this. I've paid $60 for games that were short but sweet and I've paid $20 for games that were overly long and bloated. I've found that pacing is a way more important factor than length.
What does it being a PS2 game have to do with anything? I'm just trying to understand how that relates to the second part of your statement, because I do agree that people consume entertainment differently now.
I really dislike long games, they always feel like they have way too much padding and are wasting my time. Persona 5 should have been 20 hours shorter and Days Gone feels overly bloated at 40-50 hours. 10-20 hours is a perfect game length, for RPGs extend that to 30-50 hours.
No specific answer for this one, it depends on Genre and developer. Like if I'm paying 60€ for a Dragon Quest game ot better be fucking special and long as fuck.
Back in the PS2 days those games were very common. Now most games have some form of online attached to them to add value. Then when you add GOTY contenders like The Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2 and the upcoming Cyberpunk I would think a 6 hour game would be very difficult in these times to sell at $60. God of War and Horizon and Breath of the Wild are nowhere near 6 hour games.
I think anything under 12 hours and it would be a real struggle to have much success for a single player only title that costs $60.
Couldn't care less. Length means nothing. I'd rather have an hour of amazing immersive, exciting, terrifying, fascinating, whatever than 30 hours of bang average.
Game length is zero indicator of quality and zero indicator of value.
Every so often you get something that is amazing and really long, like Days Gone. What a fabulous game, and it's massive too.
Game length is zero indicator of quality and zero indicator of value.
Every so often you get something that is amazing and really long, like Days Gone. What a fabulous game, and it's massive too.
