Too many video games, too little time – but could that be changing?

In Japan, there’s a word to describe a shelf full of books you’ve bought but never read – tsundoku.

Video gaming has its own version of this.

The backlog.

Most console or PC owners probably have one – an ever-growing collection of unfinished or even unplayed titles.

There are websites allowing players to catalogue their digital cabinets of shame, and Reddit support groups sharing tips on how to shrink them.

It’s a thing. And a symptom of a potentially bigger problem.

More games are being released than ever before, and blockbuster releases in particular have been getting longer.

Some estimates suggest that as few as 10% of those who buy a game make it to the end.

But are things starting to change?

Of the top 10 best-reviewed games since 2020, according to review aggregator Metacritic, five are estimated to take at least 60 hours to complete.

Analyst Rhys Elliott, from Midia Research says the trend towards longer games has been “an insidious creep over time”.

“Games got bigger each year, and then, over the span of 10 years it’s been an insane jump in game length.”

Rhys uses the popular Assassin’s Creed series as an example.

Earlier sequels would take about 25 to 30 hours to finish. But 2020 release Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, could take anything from 60 to 100-plus hours.

On paper, more game for your money sounds like a great deal.

But Rhys says games take longer and cost more than ever to make while the price players are charged for them hasn’t gone up as much.

Based on public data from major console makers and on PC store Steam, Rhys found that the longer a game is, the lower the number of players who finish it.

“And this suggests that the growing development timelines and budgets that are fuelling these longer games have reached a point of diminishing returns,” he says.

Rhys has previously published research arguing that companies would be better off making shorter games.

“If game developers cut the length of a game like Assassin’s Creed by 20%, most players would never notice.”

There is another option – give players a choice.

Carrie Patel is the game director of Avowed – released on Xbox and PC this week – at developer Obsidian.

The Microsoft-owned studio has a long history in the role-playing game (RPG) genre, and has been behind hits including The Outer Worlds and Fallout: New Vegas.

RPGs generally take dozens of hours to finish, but Carrie says the studio has tried to design Avowed to accommodate players who might want a shorter game.

“I’ve definitely heard a sentiment on many of our teams, and from our player base, of: ‘Oh, good! A game I can actually finish’,” she says.

Reviewers have suggested a quick playthrough of Avowed will take about 15 hours, and completing all its extra optional content will take 40 or more.

That’s in line with some of the studio’s previous titles, but with Avowed the developers have been keen to point out it’s a game that “respects player’s time”.

“We know everybody has plenty of options, plenty of things to do with their time,” says Carrie.

“So we want everything that they find in our games to feel worth their time.”

Games don’t have to contain hundreds of hours of content for them to be big hits.

Some fans complained when they learned that 2023 PS5 title Spider-Man 2 – a full-priced release – could be fully completed in just under 30 hours.

But the game reviewed well and broke a sales record for Sony – a case of quality over-riding quantity.

It’s an approach that chimes with Carrie.

“I don’t think most people are looking for something just to kill a few hours,” she says.

“They want a really immersive, valuable experience.”

Analyst Rhys says this is a “smart” approach.

“If you just want to blast through it, you can go for it, and you still get the full experience.

“And I think we’ll probably see a little bit more of this kind of experimentation going forward.”

Which begs the question – why do companies make them so long in the first place?

Even with a game like Avowed, a good number of players will see only a fraction of what the game has to offer.

Carrie admits: “There’s always this little voice in the back of your head that says: ‘But what about the players who are going to skip this?’

“And so you always want to make sure that you have those exit ramps for people who are less interested in getting into the weeds.

“But I can make sure that the people who are going to look for it, who are going to engage with it are going to have the best possible time with it.”