Question for people with massive backlogs

[eXistor]

I'm not that concerned with my backlog. Normally it goes like this for me: new game I want to play comes out; I finish it. If something else new comes out shortly after I'll either wait for that (if it's just a few days or a week) or I'll see if I can squeeze something from my backlog in between releases.

Right now I'm actually replaying games I wanted to replay while I wait for Ys IX. Shortly after that, Little Nightmares 2 and Mario 3D World will be released and I'll get to them when I get to them. LN2 is gonna be pretty sort anyway and I've already played Mario on WiiU.

 

[Fonst]

A lot of my backlog are games you can't finish (multii-only) so I don't feel too drowned.

 

[Sword Familiar]

Backlog, library, call it what you will. I have no intention of beating all the games in my library. I just feel blessed to be able to pick and choose at any given time from an abundance of games. That said, I have chosen about 100 games from my steam library that I have installed so they'll be ready to play at any given time. I feel the chances of me actually starting up a game is higher if I don't need to go through the hassle of installing them first. After I've tried them for a bit I'll sort the games into categories, like "play later" or "non-interest" and uninstall them until I'm done with the whole list. It will take some time, but I'm confident I'll at least be able to try out most of the games I'm interested in this way. For my physical collection I have sorted them in the shelf so that all my unplayed games are in the same place so it's easier to pick and choose from a game I haven't experienced before.

I will not make a commitment to play all of those games in any given timeframe though. My gaming time is much too sporadic for that to be plausible.

 

[Inki]

I've found that with hundreds of games (maybe even over 1k now) across gaming services, when I buy something I want to play it then. If something slips to my backlog I may never play it or, disastrously, I purchase 2 games at the same time and only 1 gets played.

Moving forward, when I need a new game (after I'm done playing the previous one), I'm going to see whats out there and what I already have. If nothing new is exciting I'll play the best looking game in my backlog. It's the only way I'm going to get through even a small portion of it.

The only time I purchase a newly released game is when it's a multiplayer focused game (BF6) that I can play alone or if there is a multiplayer game my friends pick up.

 

[Shyranui]

I probably could not do it OP. It's not massive but sometimes I have a little FOMO. And when a game is on my mind I cannot play others because I start thinking about the one I want xD

I accepted years ago that I'm never gonna finish my backlog. What I try to do now is "If I buy a newly release game then I'm gonna play it". And between new releases I squeeze some of my backlog. The problem comes when there is not enough time between releases to finish the game or when there is a sale and I buy a couple of games. I'm trying to be more select with what I buy but I still buy more than I play, is not really a problem financially but it buggers me.

 

[iceblade]

IMO it's not feasible to do so, at least for me. There are just too many releases in a year that I really want to play for me to be able to do this. This year already has Bravely Default II and Far Cry 6.

What I will do is focus on a particular system (doing that this year with the PS3), or try not to buy as many games, but outright skipping everything from a particular year isn't going to work for me. In terms of playing the games, I'll play whatever interests me at the time.

A couple of years ago I accepted that I'm never gonna finish my backlog. What I try to do now is "I buy a newly release game then I'm gonna play it". And between new releases I squeeze some of my backlog. The problem comes when there is not enough time between releases to finish the game or when there is a sale and I buy a couple of games. I'm trying to be more select with what I buy but I still buy more than I play, is not really a problem financially but it buggers me.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, same here. The "time between new releases" bit especially. I wind up postponing some releases as a result and those wind up in the backlog. Ghost of Tsushima is one such example. I bought it not long after release, intending to play it ASAP, but didn't get around to it since there were other games I was playing.

 

[Zampano]

I stopped thinking of it as a backlog of things I need to do and started regarding it as my library. Helped a lot. FOMO is still a thing but I find if a game has truly got me, I will finish it.

 

[SturokBGD]

My backlog became less of a "backlog" and more of a "library" or even "museum" somewhere around 2006. 2021 won't do anything for me either way.

EDIT: haha, I just remembered I posted a thread just like this one on the old place.

"Year-long game purchasing hiatus... could a GAFer do it?"

Not linking for obvious reasons but I was shocked to see I posted it in 2008.

Spoiler: I failed miserably.

 

[Lotus]

2020 is when I realized I'd never truly get rid of most of my backlog, much less all of it.

 

[danlher]

I have a backlog and decided to not really give a damn. I own games I probably won't ever play and I'm fine with that.

Click to shrink...

Exactly this.

I stopped worrying about my backlog so now I just feed it and see how it grows xD

 

[defaltoption]

I have a backlog and decided to not really give a damn. I own games I probably won't ever play and I'm fine with that.

Click to shrink...

This girl gets it, exactly me. I have like 500 games digitally on ps4/5 alone let alone what I have on xbox or steam or old consoles, I'll play what I can and continue to buy new stuff but I'll never get to it all.

 

[N.47H.4N]

I have the opposite image for 2021, I think most of the great games will be delayed and will be a perfect year to clean most of my backlog.

 

[Wolf Parade]

I've honestly just approached my backlog and any new releases as: "What do I want to play right now?" If there's a really good new game coming out that I definitely want to play, I just get that if my economy allows it. Of course, marketing also plays a big part in trying to instill a sense of "you need to buy this new game otherwise you won't be happy", so I'm also critical of that.

If it's not an essential new game, I just wait until it goes on sale and continue whittling down my backlog.

Click to shrink...

Bingo. 2020 was the year I finally let go of my backlog and completionist anxiety. Life is short and full of unpredictable twists and turns. I have ADD and often jump from game to game, something that used to instill guilt... Now I just embrace it. Going to play some Dark Souls tonight, perhaps tomorrow I'll buy Atelier Ryza 2 even though I have 26 unfinished JRPGS.

Feels good.

 

[EllipsisBreak]

I never completely stop buying new games. Every once in a while, a very high priority new release comes along, and so I buy and play it immediately.

That being said, the vast, vast majority of games I've been playing are old. I beat 160 games in 2020, and less than a tenth of them were released in that year.

 

[Supreme Leader Galahad]

I think so? but my backlog is more controlled about how much money i have to buy new releases, otherwise i go playing whatever i feel like atm new or old, which makes the backlog bigger. Doensnt help that i get addicted to multiplayer games from time to time and these days they require my full attention, otherwise i scant play them well enough to have fun.

 

[TheOnlyJ]

I've kind of accepted that a lot of the games in my backlog aren't games I'm dying to play, so I just use the limited time I have each day to play whatever seems the most exciting to me. I think I am more a collector at this point than a person who buys games to play. Still love buying and playing a great game on day one.

 

[SirFuzzyDunlop]

I could probably skip every release this gen and still have games left to play.

 

[Ashok]

I burned thru a MASSIVE chunk of my backlog during COVID-19. I may actually get caught up with my games before I'm dead.

 

[Zaber]

Op, I can't do that. Backlog is massive, still getting a crapton of games.

Bravely Default 2
Persona 5 Strikers
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox
Nier Replicant
SaGa Frontier
NEO: The World Ends With You
Yakuza 3-5 Collection
Biomutant
Etc.

Not all of these are day one, but will most likely be bought this year.

 

[JudgmentJay]

If I focused only on my backlog I could probably finish about half of it in a year. But I won't do that, so it will just continue to grow.

 

[JigglesBunny]

Could I do that? Sure. Would I ever do that? Never.

My "backlog" is likely in the hundreds, so long as the definition we're using is just "games I started and never finished." Despite that, I always finish what I actually enjoy. Why punish myself by limiting myself to games that I didn't care enough to finish the first time around when so many new and exciting games continue to release?

Ultimately, I just play what I want to play, when I want to play it, for as long as I enjoy playing it. There's nothing else to it, it's that simple.

 

[Woylie]

It's the sales that usually get me - I've become more disciplined over the past couple years about saying "If I didn't want to buy X game at full price, I probably don't need it even if it is $20 now"

I use an app on my phone called Backlogger to try and cull down the backlog, and organize it to see what I actually want to play, which games I played a bit of and feel like I don't particularly need to go back to, and which games I'm fine just setting free and saying "I really don't think I'll ever get to this one" and feeling fine about it

since I started this approach, it's been less of a worry for me. I'm also much more apt to put some time into a game, realize I'm not enjoying it, and feel comfortable moving on without forcing myself to finish it arbitrarily.

I think my backlog of things I'd actually like to start or go back and finish is like 40ish games now between gamepass, switch indies, and some older classic titles I'd like to experience for the first time.

 

[t26]

I am still going to have my day 1 purchase - Nier Replicant, Tales of Arise. When there is nothing to play I will clear my backlog.

 

[ChrisR]

Easily. I see nothing that comes out in 2021 that I have to buy immediately.

 

[maximumzero]

I think I'm gonna dedicate this year to my Wii & DS libraries. Playing through what I haven't played and making the hard decision whether or not I want to keep it.

I've got like 75+ games for the damn thing(s), it's time to whittle that down to the essentials.

 

[Ra]

I stopped considering games I'll never play as backlog.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

2020 was the year in which I destroyed a lot of my Backlog, I finished around 70 games.

2021 is just me finishing the fight, let's see how it goes.

 

[dancingphlower]

Right now, there's not a whole lot I'm looking forward to in 2021, so yeah I'm just working on my backlog now. That said, I'm better about just taking stuff off the list entirely if I lose interest; I was going to catch up on the Kingdom Hearts series but I ended only getting to Birth By Sleep and hating it so I'm pretty done with that series, even though I bought the series collection.

 

[Baron Von Beans]

OP, I did that plan on 2020. I should have been nearing the end, but nope, end of year sales has grown my backlog considerably again

 

[Deleted member 51957]

I keep a record of everything I currently own that I haven't given a 'fair shake' since those are the purchases that occasionally eat at me. It's not terribly long, maybe 20 games or so? Then, when I'm looking for something new to play, I'll usually take a peak at that list and decide on something or not. This is usually where my personal hangup of simply starting games comes into play.

It's easy for me to jump into things on launch day because of FOMO / live discussion, but starting anything on my backlog list gives me pause for some reason. It's odd, because I honestly believe I can lose myself in any game if I give it enough time. It's just those beginning few hours that are a hurdle for me to even start.

 

[Lotus]

2020 was the game in which I destroyed a lot of my Backlog, I finished around 70 games.

2021 is just me finishing the fight, let's see how it goes.

Click to shrink...

Godspeed

 

[UltraGashInferno]

My backlog got so out of control that I basically deleted it in my head to start a new one. After refinancing it many times, I had to foreclose :(

The good news is I'm looking at games with fresh eyes again

 

[Hippopuncher12]

My backlog has upgraded to just a collection at this point. I have come to the conclusion I am never going to get through it, and honestly I don't know if I want to anyway. I will not ignore new games, I will keep adding to the backlog, it is what it is. I have at least started to play some thing lately that have just been sitting there for years. Going through the Trails of Cold Steel series right now.

 

[joeblow]

OP, your question points to why in general I'll likely never sign up for PS Now, Game Pass, EA Access, etc... I have a backlog on console and PC because in general I prefer to play a specifically chosen game when *I* want to play it. I can go into my collection and fire up something for the first time a week, a month, a year, etc. after I bought it, and I can plow through it steadily until the end, or I can break it up by playing it over a long period of time (playing other games in between sessions).

I don't feel like I have that complete freedom with subscription services, seeing as how games rotate in and out, or might not be available when I feel like playing it. So I'll spend extra for freedom, even though I mostly buy stuff on sale and after several patches to enjoy the "best" possible version on my chosen platform.

For instance, with the awesome No Man's Sky PSVR patch today, I'll play the game for the first time on my PS5 + PSVR combo this weekend even though I got it last year in a great PSN sale. That's the kind of freedom I primarily prefer since I play exactly what I want when I want over subbing to play random games that may or may not sync with me at any given time.

For random stuff to try out, I have PS+ (for online play), and its monthly selections of "free" titles have scratched that itch. Since I've been paying only $30 or so a year for it with the CDKeys PS+ sub deal they've had off and on for eons (I'm subbed through 2027), the balance works for me to combine those random offerings with my personally chosen collection of titles in the back log and not have any shortage of games to play.

 

[Rayman not Ray]

I think it's more feasible to commit to not buying any games unless you plan to start them in the next 2 weeks. You lose nothing, and when you are ready to play that game, it'll be cheaper.

 

[Deleted member 54073]

I've been determined to clear my backlog this year whilst England is in lockdown. So far in January I've done Day's Gone, Miles Morales, Desperados 3 and Tell Me Why. Currently going through Cyber Shadow then after that I'll go through The Medium then return to the backlog.

 

[earlycuyler]

My backlog goes back to the genesis era. I have so many games thats it's just become overwhelming at this point. Does that stop me from buying new releases? Not a chance haha, but I've gotten way better at only buying games full price that are niche, or from a series I love. I will walk over to my game shelves and a take a good stare at them, maybe even pick one up, and then just think about the amount of free time I'll have to try and find between work and my children, that it goes right back on the shelf. I've been trying to finish Yakuza 5 for close to a year now. Have 7 sitting in the plastic. I seem to have plenty of time for matches of Warzone/CoD though, and I think it just comes down to that it feels like less of a commitment, because I already have too many in my life. Between shows, movies, games, music, books, etc, I try to keep up, but there's so much that I'm interested in that it's hard to make time for any of it. I think I need a game buddy that plays the same thing as me, so we can talk about it, and it sort of holds an accountability for me actually make my way through it.

 

[Richter1887]

I usually buy games I want to player later on sale and games I really want to play day one I buy instantly.

This gen is changing things though. The prices are way too high so I will have to start buying stuff on sale. In the meantime my baclog is there. I am now half way through (1000+ games in my collection and I am around 500 now)

 

[hikarutilmitt]

If I minimized my time with Genshin and Destiny to where it's only doing relatively quick things for the day/week, then I could probably eke out enough time to complete what is there of my backlog. I hard buy games new anyway, but I've got a sizable enough backlog across multiple ecosystems that I could possibly do this. I may start Uncharted 4 soon, then nuke it off my PS5. Then follow through on as many PS4 games as possible just to mark them all off in some way.

 

[Koeing]

Sony announcing that Miles and Horizon would be cross gen really killed my excitement for the ps5. Since then I've been clearing up my backlog on Ps4, Vita and 3ds. Managed to beat 6 games in the last month so I'm making progress. What helped was cataloging all of my games across all my systems and seeing which ones I actually still inted to beat. I won't upgrade to next gen until I clear up at least my ps4 backlog so by then, I'm hoping to pick up Miles, Ratchet, Demon's souls and Grand Turismo on sale.

 

[Korigama]

I play what I want when I want, prioritizing games I don't feel like playing at the moment ends up being counterproductive. Either way, there's not a whole lot of interest to me so far this year, so it looks like I'll have that much more time for what I already own (and anything else older that I may add).

 

[Thera]

I (almost) did that in 2020 and it works pretty well.

 

[bmdubya]

That's my plan, yeah. I don't even know what's releasing this year, to be honest. Plus my PC doesn't handle a lot of newer AAA games well, so I'm just gonna play random games on my backlog. I don't really get FOMO anymore when it comes to new, big game releases so it's not hard for me to ignore the big games. If anything I'll watch a Giant Bomb quick look of new releases.

 

[BasilZero]

I mean I've done that pretty much almost every year. I typically wait a full year for the best discounts before buying a game.

I think the only game I bought in 2020 that came out in 2020 was Final Fantasy VII Remake and only because it was $15 (via gift certs I was able to use at Best Buy).

 

[TechMetalRules]

I've honestly just approached my backlog and any new releases as: "What do I want to play right now?" If there's a really good new game coming out that I definitely want to play, I just get that if my economy allows it. Of course, marketing also plays a big part in trying to instill a sense of "you need to buy this new game otherwise you won't be happy", so I'm also critical of that.

If it's not an essential new game, I just wait until it goes on sale and continue whittling down my backlog.

Click to shrink...

Well said. This is where I'm at.

 

[The Iron Banana]

Nope. I play Destiny and Minecraft way too much to even bother. I really dislike the term backlog anyway (I don't know why) but I guess I qualify because I have a pretty sizeable Steam library that I hardly touch. Maybe one day...

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

I just see it as a library and pick whatever I want whenever I want to play it. I stopped caring about making by backlog smaller a long time ago. I just enjoy buying and owning game way too much and over thinking things takes away a lot of the fun. I just stick to cheap games and good deals so I almost never feel buyer's remorse.

That said I can't see 2021 becoming "massive". Most games will be delayed anyway or release very late into the year. I don't think it can top 2020.

 

[ghibli99]

Yep, as others have said, stop thinking of it as a backlog... this thing you need to work your way through. That makes it a stressful, potentially miserable experience. It's simply a library that you can pick from to play what you want, when you want. When you stop worrying about having to finish everything you own, it becomes fun again, which is what games are supposed to be. :)

 

[.exe]

That's been 2020 for me, and I think I'll continue the pattern for 2021 with the PC component market being what it is.

 

[RPG_Fanatic]

I've honestly just approached my backlog and any new releases as: "What do I want to play right now?" If there's a really good new game coming out that I definitely want to play, I just get that if my economy allows it. Of course, marketing also plays a big part in trying to instill a sense of "you need to buy this new game otherwise you won't be happy", so I'm also critical of that.

If it's not an essential new game, I just wait until it goes on sale and continue whittling down my backlog.

Click to shrink...

This is me as well. Right now I am working on my backlog of Switch games I never got around to finishing.