How much money have you spent on games that you will probable never play?

[Seijuro]

In the last few years I have started buying games that went straight to the backlog. That's mostly because since having a kid gaming time took a nosedive. Thanks to this thread I've managed to track my spending over the years, and filter out what games I've bought that I didn't actually play, and honestly probably never will. Until 3 years ago I would play everything I bought until either fatigue set in or I beat the game, and only "free" games via PS+ would go to the backlog.
Which brings me to the sum spent on games I bought that I didn't touch yet:

Spoiler: €142 spent on games I may never play.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition [PS4] €24
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night [PS4] €27
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus [PS4] €18
Judgment [PS4] €25
Days Gone [PS4] €23
Borderlands 3 [PS4] €7
Dragon Ball FighterZ Pass 3 [PS4] €18

€142 is a sum I can live with, i was sure it would be MUCH higher. Maybe I'll chip away on these games over time, together with the many other games I accumulated via PS+ or got gifted.

I'm sure I'm still on the very low end of money spent straight to the backlog on this forum. How much money have you spent on games that went straight to your backlog and may never see some action?

Edit typo in title: if a Mod would be so kind to change that spelling error from "probable" to "probably", thank you very much! :)

 

[NuclearCake]

Way too much.

Still don't regret it though weirdly enough.

 

[Lashley]

Very little, I used to go the FOMO route and buy shit I wouldn't like, but now I know the sort of games I like and dislike so just buy those. It's fun reading people's excitement and thoughts on new games, even games I don't care about, but I no longer feel the need to buy them too.

 

[Theorry]

I dont wanna know lol

 

[fourfourfun]

On Steam, far too much. Since I went physical, much less.

 

[Polk]

It's hard to tell as most of them were bought in bundles or on steam sales. But probably $500-$1000.

 

[Sprat]

Nothing.

I only buy one game at a time. Finish it then sell/pack it away in the loft.

Don't see the point buying things if I've got something to play.

 

[Issen]

Zero unless you count games that came in bundles and that were never part of the purchase decision and value consideration for said bundles anyway.

 

[Pankratous]

None, I only buy what I'm going to play

 

[Noctis Winters]

Considering the few Vita games I still have sealed (mostly collectors editions or the copies of the game boxes from said editions) it's defo around £200 /250. But then again, I MIGHT one day end up playing some of them :P

 

[BassForever]

Games I'll never finish or play for more then an hour? Probably a lot

Games I'll never even boot up, probably not that much

 

[Rover_]

oh yeah i pretty much have some good 10 to 15 games i'm never gonna touch hahahahhaha

at least none i paid full price.

 

[Elfgore]

Europa Universalis IV. I tried to play it twice, probably have a total play time of about 30 minutes. Keep in mind, this was probably three years ago. I still continue buying the DLC though.

 

[Chrno]

I bought Granblu Fantasy Versus 3 different times totally up to $200 and then never touched it on release and I really don't want to talk about it.

 

[Couleurs]

Hard to say. My backlog is massive, but only because I bought most of those games on deep discount from PSN or Xbox sales. I only pay full price when I know for sure I'm going to play it right away, so the financial hit isn't too bad.

 

[Unaha-Closp]

Not too much, relatively speaking, as I only amassed a vast amount of unplayed games when I bought a PC and then bought almost any bundle I could find. The games that I paid full day one price for and never played is slim as even if I only loaded it up for 15 mins, hello Gears of War 2, I technically played it. Did not get my money's worth but that is okay. Did not buy any more Gears of War games after that. So don't know what the economic calculation is but with over 1000 games on Steam and I know I haven't played hardly any of them but they all came from bundles of one kind or another so I don't stress it.

 

[ffvorax]

Almost nothing. If humble bundles counts then something more than nothing, but still not really much.

 

[Kickfister]

I'm too scared to try to put a number to it. I'll start and stop thinking about it with the cost of humble monthly that I can't make myself cancel.

 

[Vimto]

I immediately refund any game I don't enjoy.

In 2020 I think I refunded 25 games. (Steam)

 

[Dogui]

Bought lots of stuff i never played but it's always stuff on 70% sale or more. Didn't waste a lot of money on it i guess.

Always finished full price bought games.

 

[Kazooie]

Technically 2 euro for Uncharted 3, but I do not know whether that counts. I bought all three together, played 1 and 2 and found the series is unmitigated trash, so I decded to not play 3. I bought the three together and buying only 1 & 2 would have cost the same as getting 3 with them (because I did not need to pay postage then).

 

[Yuntu]

I buy a game once I wanna start playing it not just because I want to buy it at some point.

 

[DJtal]

I don't get it. Why would I buy something I will never play?

 

[Joedev]

Honestly, not too much. I generally have a rule to not buy something that I don't have an intention to play right now. Digital sales can be tempting, but they almost always repeat and usually get lower with time. Physical sales on the other hand, if low enough, might get me to jump on something that I don't intend to play right away, but that's pretty rare.

 

[ngower]

Probably hundreds, but it isn't stuff I buy for backlog purposes. Right now I have Yakuza Like a Dragon unopened waiting for a PS5 patch, and I have still not gone back to Link's Awakening waiting for a framerate fix. So there are games that sometimes sit as I wait for something and then I just don't get around to them.

 

[Loxley]

I don't get it. Why would I buy something I will never play?

Click to shrink...

It's not that you buy a game with the deliberate intention of never playing it. It's that you buy something (often impulsively) while its on sale with the idea being that you'll play it eventually - but never do. A lot of folks do this, especially when it comes to stuff like big Steam or PSN/XBL sales.

The problem is if you do this enough times eventually you build a giant backlog of games, many of which you probably will not actually play for a long, long, time, if ever.

 

[Z-Brownie]

i have a rule to only buy something if i will play it soon, i hardly have a backlog of more than two games

 

[Seijuro]

I don't get it. Why would I buy something I will never play?

Click to shrink...

Impulse buys when games that interest you are on sale for a smaller price, because you'll get to it in a few days/weeks/soon (never!). At least that's it for me.
I usually play full priced games right away.

 

[Ferrs]

0. Literally only buy what I play. This is why I never had a backlog, or whatever the cool kids have nowadays.

 

[SpottieO]

I don't think I've ever bought a game that I haven't played for some length of time.

 

[Magog]

Like $40 max. I have played almost everything I've bought. Still have quite a few PS+ freebies to catch up with though.

 

[Tarpii]

I try to think of that spending as an investment for my retirement. Provided my switch will last that long.

 

[SturokBGD]

Over 6 figures at this point. I still buy a lot of physical so it's more like really expensive wallpaper.

 

[pezzie]

Used to be much higher for me. When Steam sales first started to be a thing like 10 years ago, I had a blast getting every deal that looked good. Nowadays not so much, I'd like to think I learned my lesson.

I'll still drop cash on something like the Indie charity packs for a good cause even if I never play the games.

 

[Spiderz]

I like to see the numbers in my steam library go up even though I only play games for a couple hours a week :(

 

[twofive]

I preordered ni no kuni and when I got around to playing it, it was selling for like $10. I mostly buy what I play after that. I started working on my backlog of 100ish games in 2019 and if I continue with my 2020 pace, I should clear it.

So $0-$100 since there are a few games I got (impulse bought) on the cheap that I don't really have a desire to play anymore.

 

[Gelf]

I have no idea how I'd even work that out as a lot of my collection is via bundles where I may have played some but not all. If say I buy a bundle of 10 games for £10 and only play 2 of them how do we count the other 8? Particulary considering often if I where to buy the ones I played seperately it may actually come out more expensive.

 

[shinobi602]

I've never bought anything I wouldn't play.

 

[Rosebud]

I... prefer not to think about it :P

But I like to collect games at Steam, so of course I can't play everything I buy.

 

[Badcoo]

I'm much better about it now as I was about 2-3 years ago. I do get a lot of games from humble bundles. I've come to realize that game prices will drop so it's best to wait since there's already so much to play.

 

[balohna]

I was the worst for this like 10 years ago, when I was actually pretty broke but technically had money to spare and would spend a lot on steam sales and buying used or discounted console games. And at the time a lot of games would launch with a discount, so I'd be grabbing brand new games for $40 instead of $60. And then not playing them.

Nowadays I mostly buy stuff I want to play and I know what I like. Less "I heard this is good and it's not full price, might as well grab it." I'm not perfect with it, but better.

I'll even wait for discounts on games I'm hyped for now, because I know I won't be able to find the time with work, a kid, a dog, spending time with my wife, etc. I bought TLOU2 cheap and still haven't played it, but at least I didn't pre-order and pay full price.

 

[Deleted member 91227]

Nothing since the start of last gen. Never had a huge backlog, but was tired of the ones I had by the end of the past couple of generations and went into the PS4/X1 generation with a rule of only buying games to play immediately (or next if something caught a crazy sale).

Stuck with that and avoided both wasting money and having a backlog staring at me and making gaming feel like a chore. I'm not a collector, rarely replay games and thus don't dare about building a library or whatever. Much happier just buying what I'll play immediately/next and buy fewer games now and try to play more on Gamepass, PS+ etc. as I focus more on frugality as I get older and more mindful of retirement savings.

 

[TheGhost]

Pre-paid backlog for 2 years with Gamepass.
not only will i probably never get to all those games but i wouldn't have paid full price for all the yakuzas when they originally came out for example.

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

It's there if I ever want to play it. I jump around on what I'm playing so much it's hard to say I'll never play something. It's just something I haven't played yet.