Steam users have spent $19 billion on games they’ve never played
Whether it’s Diablo 4, Cyberpunk 2077, or Red Dead Redemption 2, our collective Steam pile of shame is worth enough to buy a country.
Ok so they checked my account, but what about all the other users?
They don't have access to price paid tho...
So like, where are they getting the price? A game that was $60 on release 5 years ago might have been bought then or for $5 on a sale.
That's not even getting into Humble Bundles from back in the day.
They don’t list their methodology, so it’s pretty much a made up number.
And yeah, back when you had to add the entire bundle to your account, you’d get a ton of crap bundle games that you’d never play. These days you can generally list the code for others to use.
Like H3AFF-I28Q2-AF4AV
It's definitely inflated but I'd say the real number has to be at the very least within 10% of that estimate (probably a lot more, but I've seen some AAA games at a 90% discount in the past) which is still in the billions of dollars, which is still kind of nuts
It's those damn Humble Bundles. I don't know what half the games in my library are, but I probably didn't actually want them.
Fuck do I ever relate to this. I probably have over 200 titles in my Steam library that I redeemed from Humble Bundles and have never installed. Insane.
I went from a bout 50 to about 500 before I figured out I won't ever play most of them.
This statistic is misleading. They have no way of knowing what people paid for those games. The "value" isn't just the Steam price.
As many people have mentioned here, most games in big Steam libraries come from bundles. It's pretty typical to get games for, like, $1-2 each in those. I regularly get 8 games for $10, of which I only really want 1. I play the one I cared about and get my $10 worth. There's no "lost value" so long as I got my money's worth from the title I played.
I take an even bigger view: if I buy 10 bundles for $10 each, and get 1 absolute banger (for my preferences) and a few others that are fun for a bit, then I'm happy. I often add 20 new games to my library in a month, and only immediately play 1. That doesn't mean I have "$400 value of games I've never played."
I have also bought a bundle from the spiffing brit, which was 85 games valued at €1500 for like €40. I bought it mostly for the charity and a couple of games, so it's very misrepresented to say I haven't played €1500 worth of games
That doesn't mean I have "$400 value of games I've never played."
I'd argue that what you pay for a game and the market value are two different things. The statistic is definitely misleading. The headline should read:
Steam users purchased games they haven't played valued at $19b.
I'd say it's pretty rare for people to pay full value for loads of games, i.e. I agree most unplayed games came in bundles, or were gifted/purchased at massive discount.
Thanks for doing the critical thinking for me
The number is based on the 10% of Steam accounts visible publicly. And then they calculated based on current full retail price of the unplayed games. It's a nonsense figure.
For sure. Easily half (likely more) of my unplayed games are Bundle games from a bundle I got primarily for something else. There's a few gems I'm sure.
There are a few games I bought on sale to play later as well (I'll get to you!) but the other glaring flaw I see is a selection bias. The people who use this service or similar services are going to be the heavier Steam users with collections in the hundreds.
So heavier users, with lots of bundle games and sales. I'd divide that total by 10 at least
And I'll fucking do it again
I'm in this comment and I'm indifferent about it.
🙋
... Yet!
I have over 500 titles in my backlog of shame (loads of freebies, but still shameful). If I play a new game every week, it'll take me 10 years to get through it.
What if some are absolute bangers and I sink 300+ hours in? I'll never be finished!
But what if none of them are? For 10 years I'd have slogged through a quagmire of mediocrity for nothing other than to tick a series of boxes.
I'm in this statistic and I don't like it.
Checks out
Which why nowadays, even during the mighty deals periods, I don't buy games anymore. Right now, I'm focusing on finishing games I already own.
It also helps that Steam sales are nowhere near as good as they used to be. I don't even remember the last time I saw a 90+% discount, but there was a time when they'd pop up regularly during the winter sale.
But yeah, these days my standard for even considering a purchase is "will I play it right now?"
I have to be honest, i much prefer only having to look once during the sale. Having to check every 6 hours kind required you to plan your day to check for deals.
I've saved tons of money by only not playing games I get for free. Much more affordable that way.
I have a bunch of games I bought a while after playing the pirated versions, and I usually don't play them at all.
I guess there isn't really a way to see how many people do this.
I've also not spent anything on games I've played, and then if I liked them I'd go on to purchase the game on steam. What's the point here?
On Epic. I have spent $0 on games i never played
A few of us, yeah.
Most of my unplayed games were part of bundles, or giveaways. But I am guilty of buying games and only playing them a small time before moving on to the next new different thing.
I once forgot my humble bundle sub for a year and a half. That was nuts collecting all those.
So, what you are saying is that all the people using steam combined might make it to the top 100 list of billionaires if their unplayed games were personified?
And I've spent $0 on 19 billion free games that I'm never going to play....
I’m one of those users :)
/---------------------------------\
| Yes, but see you . . . |
| don't understand: I . |
| WILL play them. . . . |
----------------\ .. /--------/
. x x . . . x . \ / . . . x
.. / . . . / . . ⚰️ . v/
If you're trying to format a picture, you need to leave 2 spaces at the end of a line for a line break.
Too bad people will never be able to get a refund on them, that would be too much like right. ☹️
Are there any stats out there for in-game purchases that never get used? 🤔
Why? You bought the games. It's like going to the store, buying a bunch of clothes, and realizing after a few months that you don't want them anymore. They cannot be returned.
That's why I don't buy shit I ain't gonna use. Well, save for emergency supplies, I hope to never have to use those.
They don't say how they come to that number in the article, so I assume they are using non-sale prices. I know that I've gotten some bundles of games in the past that were 95%+ off, which I bought just for the one game because it was the same price or cheaper.
