Only 15% of Gamers Have What It Takes to Go the Distance
If you‘re anything like me, you‘ve probably had the experience of excitedly firing up a hot new video game, playing obsessively for days or even weeks, only to eventually lose momentum and never see those end credits roll. I‘ve certainly been guilty of abandoning more than a few games right as they were getting to the good stuff.
But just how common is it for players to leave virtual worlds unfinished? According to recent industry data aggregated by gaming analytics firm PlayTracker, only around 15% of gamers complete the titles they start.
Genre Breakdown – It‘s Easier to Finish Some Games Than Others
That 15% figure is an average across all games. But when you break it down by genre, completion rates can vary wildly:
- Story-Driven Single Player Games: 30-40%
- Open World Games: 20-30%
- Shooters and Action Games: 10-15%
- Sports and Racing Games: 5-10%
- Online Multiplayer Games: Less than 5%
So why do strong narratives motivate players to go the distance, while the endless competition of multiplayer has most gamers moving on quickly?
It‘s All About Sticky Engagement
Games with engrossing stories full of interesting characters and plot twists keep pulling players along to see what happens next. There‘s an innate desire to complete the journey we‘ve embarked on with these virtual heroes and villains.
Plus, single player experiences are generally much shorter than the endless replayability of multiplayer titles. According to HowLongToBeat.com, the average single player game takes around 121⁄2 hours to finish – easily doable over a week or two.
On the flip side, competitive online games essentially never end, with new content, seasons and events added regularly. Matches and gameplay also start feeling repetitive after a while. It‘s no wonder most players quickly shift to the next big multiplayer craze.
Accessibility Options Are Removing Roadblocks
In the past, punishing difficulty curves surely prevented many players from witnessing the climax of their single player adventures. But modern games now cater to a wider spectrum of skill levels with granular difficulty options, adjustable fail states and copious online guides.
These accessibility options let more players set a comfortable challenge level and push through to the end, increasing completion percentages across the board.
Just look at the meteoric success of Elden Ring. What may be considered 2022‘s hardest major release includes robust settings to reduce difficulty, helping more fans perservere through cutthroat boss battles to ultimately complete the game. Past notoriously tough series like Dark Souls catered only to the most hardcore players.
Expert Perspectives on Why Most Games Remain Unfinished
To dig deeper into lagging completion rates, I reached out to some industry insiders for their hot takes:
Alex Hutchinson – Creative Director of Journeys to the West at Google Stadia:
"With the firehose of new games releasing all the time, players constantly shift to what‘s new and shiny before they finish what they have. It‘s not that the unfinished games are bad, they just lose the battle for limited gamer time against the market‘s massive hype cycles."
Tanya X. Short – Co-Founder of Kitfox Games (Boyfriend Dungeon):
"Even as creators, we want our games to be finished by players not for our own egos, but because many of our best moments happen late in our adventures! But with hundreds of quality games launching each year, forcing completion feels like an unrealistic ask. As long as people enjoy their time, I‘m happy."
Kahlief Adams – Editor-in-Chief of Spawn on Me:
"Gamers have changed. With more mature players embracing gaming as their prime hobby, the stigma around dropping a game you aren‘t vibing with has eroded. We have the confidence now to bounce between indie darlings and triple-A tentpoles based purely on where we‘re finding joy, rather than worrying about completing everything."
And I have to agree with Kahlief here – our perspectives around completion evolve as we get older and time becomes more precious. Gaming should ultimately be about enjoying ourselves, not methodically checking items off some backlog.
Spotlight: Games with Exceptionally High (and Low) Completion Rates
Let‘s highlight just few games on opposite ends of the completion spectrum:
High Rates
- Firewatch (2016) – 81%
- What Remains of Edith Finch (2017) – 78%
- Portal 2 (2011) – 63%
Low Rates
- PUBG (2017) – 2%
- Rocket League (2015) – 3%
- Dead by Daylight (2016) – 5%
It will be interesting to see if these trends persist when 2022 completion data is compiled. Does smash-hit Elden Ring end up closer to The Witcher 3 or Dark Souls III? Only time will tell!
A Personal Gaming Confession
Since I set out to deeply research completion rates for this piece, I‘ll make a personal confession, dear reader. Glancing at my trophy case of abandoned games, quite a few titles sit tantalizingly close to the finish line after losing my interest a few hours before the climax:
- Assassin‘s Creed Odyssey – 92% Completed
- Horizon Zero Dawn – 86% Completed
- Persona 5 Royal – 95% Completed
And these barely scratch the surface of games with unseen endings lingering in my backlog. Come to think of it, maybe I should take my own advice and simply cherry pick what to play depending on my mood, rather than worrying about completion…
So what do you think? Should we feel pressured to complete the games we start or embrace gaming‘s versatility by shamelessly bouncing between titles? I‘d love to hear your perspectives in the comments!
