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
On Epic. I have spent $0 on games i never played
Ok so they checked my account, but what about all the other users?
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.
yup this is me. When Humble Bundles were insanely good I just bought them all the time. I’d say half my library, if not more, are from those bundles and I haven’t touched most of them. And I even ended up giving away a lot of keys from the bundles too. Like for a couple years there I used them has christmas presents for friends only if they were really good games that I either already owned or had no intention of playing.
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.
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
Guess I’m playing Rise of the Triad now.
Edit: VMZAL-Q9Q2T-2F53M
Enjoy :D
Thanks for Batman, I’ve never played that one
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
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
Thanks for doing the critical thinking for me
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.
And I’ll fucking do it again
I’m in this comment and I’m indifferent about it.
Checks out
And I’ve spent $0 on 19 billion free games that I’m never going to play…
… 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 just want to point out how incredible it is that in today’s age we have this incredible amount of entertainment available. Even if we apply Sturgeons law that’s still a fill years worth of solid games. He’ll, do it twice. That still means there’s at least 5 bangers in that mess, and I find it incredible that most all of that content is recent!
A few of us, yeah.
🙋
I’m in this statistic and I don’t like it.
I’ve saved tons of money by only not playing games I get for free. Much more affordable that way.
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?”
Their are a few, but very infrequently now adays
Inquisition is pretty good, if you haven’t tried it yet.
I played it to completion when it came out. That game and Valhalla some reason isn’t in my library anymore. And not sure if it’s due to Ubisoft and ea was pulling shit and back on steam with their launchers? Or maybe I lost my mind and bought it in orgin? Who knows
It was decent- just always wanted an origins style remake, and feel like they get farther and farther from the mark each time.
You might’ve lost your mind, I don’t think there are any known cases of games from your library disappearing
Welp must have bought them somewhere else because I definitely played them
Epic Games maybe?
Yup. Cyberpunk is often on sale, but I always ask myself if I can really play it when I’m in the middle of other games.
I would advise against getting Cyberpunk. CDPR held a cosplay contest, and one of the finalists they featured on their Xitter was a cis woman who stuck a glowstick down her pants to cosplay as the controversial “Mix it up” trans character from an advertisement ingame. CDPR says their intent with that ad was to highlight the way evil corporations fetishise trans bodies to sell product. But when CDPR’s own Xitter is fetishising trans bodies to sell product… well that, as we’ve already discussed, is an evil corporation.
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.
