People with backlogs: Why do you keep buying more games?

[Kaji AF16]

Because, as the OP said, there is certain zeitgeist surrounding some games which implies they are best enjoyed at or near launch. I can safely skip the latest Assassin´s Creed, as much as I love the saga, until it becomes cheaper. But if I skip a social, cooperative experience like Destiny 2, for example (even with all its problems), I would miss some of the most relevant moments that gaming can offer to me today.

The current economic crisis in my country (Argentina) has significantly reduced my new purchases, indirectly allowing me to focus on my already vast backlog. But there are some particularly interesting titles I just want to experience at launch (RDR2, Forza Horizon 4, the already mentioned Destiny 2, probably Anthem, etc.).

 

[borges]

In a nutshell? Because im an idiot.

 

[OnanieBomb]

Addicted to sales + addicted to hype. Stay off the internet and you won't be buying games like that.

 

[InquisitorAles]

 

[IvanSlavkov]

Good question. Most likely because I am an idiot and can not learn to save money!

 

[Alent]

The new games coming out i want more than the older games that got into the backlog. It also doesn't help when i keep replaying old favs instead of tackling the unplayed stuff. At least i'll always have thing to play when there's a drought in game i'm interested in.

 

[Boddy]

Whether or nor I own them doesn't change that I want to play them, so the size of my backlog is kind of irrelevant.
I either buy a game when
a) I want to play it soon or
B) I have no plans of playing it soon, but want to support the genre/developer

 

[dragonflys545]

Because now I have money. Before I had no money.

 

[Deleted member 29354]

I think it's honestly a sickness for me. The sales are just too good (which is exactly what the digital marketplace is hoping you'll notice) and I promise myself I'll at least *try* them. I have something like 63 games, 12 of which I've played through to completion. I've disconnected my debit card via Steam and Nintendo eShop and have promised myself to only buy what I will play and beat immediately while working through my backlog. Let's hope it works!

 

[Deleted member 29354]

For me it's a few things:

- If I'm planning to buy a game at some point but there's a PS+ discount now I'll typically buy it now to get the most of my PS+ sub.

- If/when disposable money runs out I've got stuff to play. I got some big ones in my backlog, Witcher 3, Divinity, Yakuza 0, FFXV for ex. I've usually got something for whatever mood I'm in.

- There is definitely a "rush" from buying a game I want. Like right now I'm happily enjoying Spidey, Horizon, Destiny 2, plenty to play but soon a new game will start gnawing at me from the back of my mind.

I'm not proud of that last one.

It's something I try to control and I am getting better with it tbh, my wish list is far from empty but I'd bought 11 games more at this point last year so I must be doing something right?

Click to shrink...

I can relate to the "rush" feeling. I finally have the buying power to get what I want, when I want, but I think it has ended up spoiling my enjoyment of patiently waiting in between purchases and gameplay. I'm trying to go easy to help rekindle my love for playing so much, but even with all the time in the world, the uniqueness of buying a game immediately is starting to wear on me.

 

[crazillo]

Really tempted to buy Assassin's and Red Dead 2 at the end of the month despite owning games I bought this year and never opened.

Click to shrink...

We're facing the exact same challenge! :P Wonder what the odds would be that we give in, I guess we'd get less out of this bet than the "resist" one.

 

[Naner]

Lately I've only been buying either new games I want to play right away or older games that I plan on playing soon. Avoiding buying "just 'cause it's cheap" as much as possible.

 

[neoJABES]

I have a serious problem and addiction to collecting games. My backlog is at least 500+ deep..

I feel a scarcity mindset and almost an obligation to buy and collect games of publishers I love even though I have very limited time to game nowadays.

Amazon has made this worse for me over the last couple years as it's so easy to preorder while on your phone, and months later this package shows up and youre like shit, I ordered that? Case in point Mega Man 11 was sitting on the counter for me when I got home on Monday. When will I play it? Who knows..

It's truly a complete waste of money, I need to get control over this. Thanks for bumping this thread, going to cancel some amazon preorders right now.

 

[Aswitch]

For me.. some games come out that I want to play more than my backlog basically. I generally can refrain from games I don't see myself playing anytime soon, but will get around to it. but if those games become cheap enough, then I may cave in. Pretty much how my backlog stack up for me.

 

[Gelf]

For me the backlog was built mostly from the bundles which are impulse buys due the price. Like just yesterday I was able spend £6 for 7 games with the latest Humble offering, I doubt I'd be able to get that value in any future sales even if I were only to buy a few of them. It's added to my backlog/collection but it was just a few quid so who cares.

I wont shell out on a single new game(or anything more then £5 really) unless I know I will play it immediately though, I don't have that kind of money to waste.

 

[Billy Awesomo]

Because one day I hope to play them. One day when Imma retired and have time. Since I probably won't be able to play all of my games in this life time I will make sure in my will somewhere my next of kin will finish as much as they could and their next of kin will finish as much as they can and so forth...

 

[YaBish]

I don't.

I wishlist games instead and buy only if I have time/money :)

Click to shrink...

This is where I'm at. It's a much healthier way of managing my purchases and helps keep me in line for school and work. I recently bought Spider-Man at launch and it was the first time I'd done that for a game in years.

 

[Lexad]

I thankfully don't have much of one but destiny 2 has been consuming my time while Spider-Man is mostly untouched at the moment

 

[Tareskog]

I have pretty much just abandoned my backlog at this point. I only buy games that I actually intend to play when i buy them.

 

[FulgoreX]

I only buy a new game when I finish one, like I just finished Spiderman and am thinking about picking up Shadow of the Tomb Raider

 

[low-G]

A). I love a variety of games, for different reasons.
B). The kind of game I want to play depends on my mood. Example that happens a lot for me: I bought Destiny 2 early on, put it down for months, and now I'm really into it.
C). I get too excited and can't wait for a lot of games to get dirt cheap. I'm like a little baby.

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

Because they release more games, what kind of question is this?

 

[db1416]

I have a big backlog with my NES and SNES classic consoles. I'm convinced I'll never catch up because when people played those games, they were the only games to play. Unfortunately I typically only have enough time for one game at a time so I'm hoping someday I'll be able to beat the old Legend of Zelda games and Super Mario RPG but I'm not holding my breath. But I'll always have them when I'm craving to go play them!

 

[Tavernade]

I've actually mostly stopped buying games. I don't think I've payed full price for a game since Mario Odyssey last year. I have Smash and Kingdom Hearts 3 pre-ordered, but while I want the new AC, Red Dead, Life Is Strange, and Soul Calibur I'm willing to wait on them until next year when more of my backlog is done and I have a bit more free time.

 

[christocolus]

I've been asking myself the same question. I have more than 23 AAA games in my backlog including AC, Witcher 3, FH3 and I just added spiderman to the list and I'm getting FH4 middle of the month, Red Dead Redemption 2 and almost every major console game releasing in the first quarter of 2019.

 

[Deleted member 5764]

I make terrible decisions and like being part of the conversation around new titles. As time goes on, I'm starting to strengthen my willpower in some areas while weakening in others.

I'll do things like avoid AAA title X only to buy AA title Y on Switch because "I can play it anywhere". In reality, I almost never end up playing title Y.

 

[-2B-]

I try not to keep much of a backlog. If I have one it's usually because of deals that were too good to pass up.

 

[deathsaber]

Honestly, I think I'm addicted experience of playing new games more than anything else.

Theres nothing more exciting than the first few times you are popping something in. That then fades, so onto something new.

Yes, I know how dumb that is.

And I do manage to finish stuff. Occasionally. Eventually. If its really good of course. Otherwise I'll probably sell it back if I bought a physical copy and It has some value. (just finally completed Horizion and BOTW this summer, lol, owned both since launch, actually sold my physical copy of Horizon and just bought it again on PSN for $12 recently and finally completed my run). Just started Uncharted: Lost Legacy (which I've had since last Xmas, and played the first 2-3 chapters and stopped)), and I'm like 40% into Spiderman (which I'll probably finish sometime in 2020, as its now shelved for Dragon Quest 11, which given that games length, will probably be a snowballs chance of being completed this decade, espec with Black Ops 4 and RDR2 right around the corner).

 

[Imitatio]

My experience since owning a Switch and going 99% digital (except BotW, am mostly physical on PS4 until now) is that having the convenience of opening the eShop and being able to outright buy what I see makes me buy games more easily even though I may only be mildly interested in them. That's one of the reasons I'm thinking about buying retail copies again, because ordering one game after another and waiting a day or two for it helps me appreciate the game again instead of just downloading it and adding it to the backlog.

At least that's what I hope, he he.

 

[Deleted member 35777]

Only have two games left on backlog, crosscode and dragon quest 11. Some games are to big now and take me hundreds of hours to complete or I enjoy them and play multiple times.

Work and Life plus video games means I can't binge for 16 hours like the old days and crash games quickly.

 

[TrashFuego]

I've got enough disposable income to buy whatever comes out. Money for a game I got. Time on the other hand? Not so much. Between a job, a wife and kid, I can't just play games like I used to be able to.

I've pinned on this, I like to buy games for my inner child or something, there was a time I'd beg for a game during Christmas. Now I can afford it. Christmas is every day.

 

[Matty H]

With October and all these big releases coming, I would like to bump this thread. So, how is everyone dealing with all these big releases from now till March 2019?

Click to shrink...

Only jumping into the releases that I'm anticipating will do something groundbreaking or impressive compared to its contemporaries, which is why Spider-Man and Red Dead Redemption 2 are the only day 1 buys for me this year.
I bought God of War on sale a couple months ago and feel like I've only scratched the surface so it goes into the backlog until after I'm done with RDR2.
Forza Horizon 4 looks pretty neat with its seasons (and gamepass is tempting) but I'm not sure if I'm in the mood for it yet. Plus I haven't finished FH3 yet!
Assassin's Creed Odyssey looks alright but I could also just get Origins for cheap, but why even bother when I haven't finished TW3 Blood and Wine DLC!?
The new COD Blackout mode looks interesting but is it doing enough to buy a full priced game when I could play PUBG or H1Z1? Also, COD will probably drop support pretty quickly with a new full priced release next year and its community split with the traditional modes (and no single player campaign hurts the value proposition).
So I put some pretty high barriers up to make myself really justify a day one purchase but then the end of year sales happen and the backlog balloons.

 

[Sphinx]

I feel like this problem is the exact opposite of "why do you force yourself to complete games and get platinums and achievements??"

 

[ghibli99]

I buy new games to support devs/pubs I like. Just because I have games I haven't played yet doesn't mean I'm prioritizing play of those at that moment. Sometimes you just want to play the new stuff, and I think it's strange to force yourself to only play stuff you already own, even if they don't suit your mood at the time. Might as well be a job if you approach this hobby that way.

 

[Atom Heart Mother]

I don't really buy games...I buy a game I want to play, play it, and then I move on to the next. Haven't bought anything since Prey in 2017. Only game I bought this year was Battle for Azeroth for WoW...nothing isn't really interesting me. Don't even care for sales anymore when I can just hit up Kinguin or any of those grey market sites.

 

[Iva Demilcol]

Why not?

 

[PatMan]

I don't. Books on the other hand...

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

My backlog has 10 games max and I finish stuff before I buy anything else.

Right now there's only 4 games in my backlog, be selective.

 

[Deleted member 32374]

I've pretty much stopped these past two years. Every now and then I'll get something cheap, like $5 or under during a sale or if I want to scratch a gameplay/seasonal itch. Last "big" game purchase I made was a Horizon zero dawn for $40 when I got my new PS4 last December. Before that was Doom 2016 and before that it was Fallout 4. I usually rent either from library or redbox to sample a game for a weekend, sometimes even to finish it like titanfall 2 or Star wars battlefront 2.

Long story short, I have at least 15 PS3 games, 100 PC games and 10 PS4 games that I actively play/want to complete or start. I'm set with games and any hardware I have. Which is good because my financial life is like most others my age, not all that great and I make do/appreciate what I do have.

 

[Continental 0p]

Click to shrink...

Good question. Most likely because I am an idiot and can not learn to save money!

Click to shrink...

Ditto for both, and I hope it never changes.

 

[Indelible]

I usually pre-order during e3 when games are $50 Canadian, I never pay full price for a game since I already have so much to play..

 

[Deleted member 21709]

Why should I only play one game at a time, or finish games before moving on? I don't have time for that unfortunately. :/

I stopped believing that clearing backlog is even an option.

 

[Virtua Saturn]

The want to play the new game out ways the want to play the backlog name.

 

[Roubjon]

For me, unless I end up really loving a game's aesthetic and story I often don't finish it. Getting a chance to play with the game and its systems for a bit is fun, but I'll often lose interest since it isn't new or exciting anymore.

 

[oneida]

tax evasion

 

[Deleted member 47843]

I finally stopped this gen. Sold off everything and only buy a game when I'll play it immediately. That has rejuvenated my interest in gaming as it doesn't feel like a chore or waste of money anymore.

 

[StoneColdSchmuck]

I do it to play games with my friends, or to be in the discussion with my friends. Also, sometimes there's a great sale for a game that I want to play eventually, and I'll buy it and just pick it up when I'm in a gaming lul. May, June, and July were used to beat Persona 5 for me when I had bought it in March on a sale.

 

[lord_of_flood]

I just want to try out new games, even if my backlog does bother me a good bit. I've been getting better about stopping impulse buys though, and I generally stick to specifically buying what I really want to play now.

 

[Aaron D.]

Too much money. Not enough time.

With a heavy dose of ADD.

 

[Level 7 Boss]

I just can't resist a bargain.