How often do you buy video games in a year?

[Colif]

I think it depends on how capable your PC is of playing them. I went a few years buying none at all and then in the last 3 months I have bought 3. Main difference being I have a GPU that can run my monitor at a lot faster rerfresh rate than previous one, so playing games is more enjoyable now. Now only limited by the types of games I play. If you keep throwing money at the PC to keep it at top range, you probably buy more games than someone who has a 5 year old PC and who doesn't buy old games to play on it.

We aren't all techy

 

[AngelTech]

I've bought 2 games this year and honestly it's likely I will buy probably a few more before the year ends because I want to get Oxygen Not Included and RimWorld both not at all taxing or graphically impressive but it's fun nonetheless

 

[villageidiot101]

probably 1 to 2 a year. i'm more likely to receive a $2 game via steam from my friends as a joke vs buying my own

 

[MongooZ]

Less and less every year… around 1-3 actually. I feel like modern games are kinda meh for the majority of them, story wise. I’m more of a single player myself.

 

[Peter Ferrari]

Just a few, no new releases though. Games ship in awful state these days and need a hundred patches.
I don't get people who whine about GPU prices and then proceed to pay 60-70eur for another newly lanuched game that runs poorly for months. I'd much rather overpay for a gpu like 4090, not 10 half-broken new releases every year.
I think I only bought Guardians of the Galaxy and MW 2019 this year, on promotion. Haven't touched them yet, replaying rdr2 is just too time consuming.

 

[Frag Maniac]

Just a few, no new releases though. Games ship in awful state these days and need a hundred patches.
I don't get people who whine about GPU prices and then proceed to pay 60-70eur for another newly lanuched game that runs poorly for months. I'd much rather overpay for a gpu like 4090, not 10 half-broken new releases every year.
I think I only bought Guardians of the Galaxy and MW 2019 this year, on promotion. Haven't touched them yet, replaying rdr2 is just too time consuming.

I feel ya bro. My having limited genre preferences used to be my main excuse for how infrequently I purchase games, there's just not that many types of games I like to play. Now the horrible condition they launch in is every bit as much a reason.

 

[shotgunwalker]

Used to buy 5+ each Steam sale via either Steam directly or CDKeys so around 15-20 a year, but recently I think I bought 5-6 total in the last 12 months. I have access to Origin and Xbox Game Pass that gives me lots of games I want to play.

 

[Craig234]

Well, I have over three thousand just on Steam, so a few. I have walls of old physical games I call a collection.

 

[Colif]

i got 10 this week but 9 were from subscribing to Microsoft Game Pass and the 10th was on Steam. So the actual cost was low.

Only burst out as I bought a X box controller so I can actually play more games. Now to find the time.

 

[SCP2000]

About 2-5 titles on average.

I had to change my spending habits over the years because the industry has shifted towards crunch and pandering to shareholders over gamers. In the past, anytime a Battlefield, Call of Duty, or World of Warcraft expansion came out, Blizzard and EA/Dice were always guaranteed my hard-earned cash. Today, with the exception of well-known franchises that don't get annual releases, i.e., Metal Gear, GTA, Witcher, etc., I will typically only purchase games when they're on sale.

 

[punkncat]

I have purchased (2) games this year.

BG3 was one of them and IMO is possibly the best game I have purchased since Division 2. It is a tremendous title with incredible repeat play options. It is the most comfortable I have been post purchase about the purchase in a long, long time.

The other game, Starfield, came free with the graphics card purchase. The space it takes on my drive is pretty much wasted for so much of my opinion about the game. It is a tedious bore and honestly think I would rather clean the bathtub than load it again. I have considered just deleting it but haven't pulled the trigger quite yet...probably when some other title comes out that I am looking to purchase and need the space.

With the above said, I tend to watch the various launchers for the free promotions they offer. I have picked up quite a few older games that are still a blast to play. Of other mention I would say that I loaded Fortnite for a bit which is free to play, but every time you turn it on is another giant download data creeping on the free space. I deleted that one.

To answer the question directly, I have always had a habit of waiting for a bit after release on a few games. I probably have my eye on 2-3 games a year if they turn out to be well reviewed. My last several experiences doing so have left me quite disappointed and only BG3 has moved towards restoring that faith. For example:

CP77 was hyped up so much that I opted to try it. It was a hot mess even a while after release and I really hate the game mechanics around combat. It looks really good though, so every now and again I like to load in and just walk around Night City. I will not even consider purchasing additional content for it.

The newest of the Sniper Elite series of games. I REALLY like 2-4 IIRC. The one right before this release was really nice as it added a bit of an open world/sandbox feel which was much nicer that the previous games that felt more like moving to a different frame in respect to the very limited approach options. The newest release was (and may well still be) very broken. Horrible performance when it worked at all. I refunded this one almost immediately after download.

And the last dis-honorable mention would be the newest Diablo. I was SUPER excited about this game simply based on my experiences with the previous titles. Once the reviews started pouring in I knew it was not going to be worthwhile to purchase.

So TL;DR on this is that I would LIKE to be buying more games but haven't found too many that spike my interest or are well enough developed on release to end of not being a test rat for.

 

[iTRiP]

If where still talking about buying games every year, I'd be talking about how many new and exciting games I buy a year, so far it's the second or what no third month of the year and I have yet to see an interesting game appear somewhere where I can purchase such with ease... Oh right what I wanted to add was it seems the hit games only release at specific times of the year, last year I recall experiencing such. I'd be great to see games being released over the extent of the year and not only in seasonal high times, gamers got to play all the time not just say for instance in the festive times.

 

[minnin90]

If where still talking about buying games every year, I'd be talking about how many new and exciting games I buy a year, so far it's the second or what no third month of the year and I have yet to see an interesting game appear somewhere where I can purchase such with ease... Oh right what I wanted to add was it seems the hit games only release at specific times of the year, last year I recall experiencing such. I'd be great to see games being released over the extent of the year and not only in seasonal high times, gamers got to play all the time not just say for instance in the festive times.

While I agree and its true hit / big AAA games are released during holidays and what not , usually I think reviews aka critics kill good games - or so so games..much like they do movies. Unless a game is bugged super bad I'll play it but rarely purchase any game day one, due to cost. But again like movies just because say January the worst month for movies or September too there are still great films if you try them out - just not ones to get rave reviews. For games its the same, November, December are huge months for the gaming industry but plenty of honorable mentions are in other months. One game I am definitely buying based on user reviews when its 30-35 dollars is Suicide Squad, in all honestly it looks just fair, and it probably did mutilate the previous work....but from what I hear on consoles it runs steady at 60ish fps, few glitches/bugs and fun enough to get your achievements and trophys in my favorite universe, DC.

That would be an example of wow critics and even a mass amount of people bashing something so hard, it frankly gets overlooked and hated. It's not necessarily fair, to be honest.

 

[c1c1op]

Maybe two or five games

 

[Bogey42]

I buy maybe a handful of games per year, maybe 2 $40+ games, and then another handful of cheap games under $10 each.