How often do you buy video games in a year?

Page 4 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Feb 5, 2021
3
0
10
I used to buy 10-15 games a year. I would spend hours playing them. But now I don't have the time anymore... If I do have a spare evening, I play the old games or go to friends to try some of the new ones.
 
Feb 3, 2021
7
0
10
Always in different ways, when a lot of interesting games for me come out, I buy often. But in most cases, I don't buy games often. I try to complete all my games to 100% and often I like to replay them.
 

Steven Mal

Distinguished
Jun 8, 2013
94
0
18,630
I usually buy my games on sale, so I typically buy my games during the Steam Summer and Winter sales. Of course, I'll buy a game any time of the year if the discount is large enough.
 
Dec 16, 2020
86
13
35
1-2 games per year max.

I buy Fifa religiously and then maybe a shooter in there some years. Big fan of battlefield. So if there is a battlefield released I am getting that.
 

Bassman999

Prominent
Feb 27, 2021
481
99
440
I buy from Instant Gaming GOG and steam mainly
I get games whenever I see something I wanted at a good enough sale.
I waited to get CP 2077 at $15
 

revodo

Proper
BANNED
Jun 10, 2021
241
35
120
There's almost no incentive to buy games for me anymore. I'm older. Almost all games concepts have already been done. I've seen it all. Games now are just hollow shells that are trying to capture the magic of the originals in their genre or field. Everyone follows proven formulas now. Almost no risk taking. If you're older like me, you remember looking at new games thinking to yourself "Is that a giant worm in a spacesuit with an automatic pistol jumping on tires and killing aliens?"

Even the content in game was uncensored. Voice lines were so unbelievably politically incorrect that it had everyone dying laughing. You could have a female space marines in ridiculous revealing outfits and no one cried about objectifying women. It was juts a bunch of dorky guys taking chances, making wild and ridiculous games that everyone enjoyed. Even the "serious games" were leaps and bounds more in-depth and fleshed out than any modern game. Remember the original Half-Life? Quake? Unreal Tournament? Counter-Strike? Thief? Tribes? Modern games look better, but for most, that's it.

Another aspect is patches. Back in the day, most people either didn't have internet, or it was slow dial-up. Even single CDs were an average of 650MB. Do you think game developers were patching minor issues and then releasing 650MB patches, and telling their customers to go download it? Every week or every month? No. Most games were released pretty stable. If, for whatever reason, a patch was released, it was usually not for game breaking bugs that missed the QA testing, it was small refinements and optional to install in most cases. Not required to play or finish the game. Nowadays games aren't even done by the time they are getting released. And companies don't care about releasing 50GB patches every two weeks because they're too lazy to make a patch that patches their game, instead they just upload the entire game and expect you to download the whole thing again.

Then there is the soulless identity of the game industry itself that has manifested in the last 10 years. From expansion packs, to subscriptions, to DLC, to season passes, to lootboxes, and beyond. It's worse than playing the slots in a casino at this point. Imagine paying to watch a movie, but you can only see the ending if you paid double the original price to unlock it. That's where the game industry is at now.

I honestly didn't mean to type all that.

Anyway, the few current games I really like are Rust, Dead By Daylight, Alien Isolation, A Plague Tale, Dishonored, Prey, This War of Mine, Titanfall 2, and Valheim.
 

TangoDown87

Prominent
Jun 27, 2021
34
4
545
Not including humble bundel I end up buying 50+ games a year. Its sad to look at all the games i have across all the platforms. But I usully stick to steam when I buy something unless Its absolutly not avilable on Steam.

There are games I want to get but I'll wait til they go on sale like Evil Genus 2.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bassman999

Bassman999

Prominent
Feb 27, 2021
481
99
440
Not including humble bundel I end up buying 50+ games a year. Its sad to look at all the games i have across all the platforms. But I usully stick to steam when I buy something unless Its absolutly not avilable on Steam.

There are games I want to get but I'll wait til they go on sale like Evil Genus 2.
GOG and Instant Gaming have some good deals sometimes
 

minnin90

Commendable
Sep 1, 2021
335
37
1,720
As a gamer, are you the type that likes to buy lots of games per year or are you the more conservative one who is dedicated to only a few games and only moves to newer titles once you've exhausted all resources out of your old games? Or are you in-between?


the only games I "buy" are subs or cheap currencies like cartel coins in SWTOR...so just MMO stuff primarly...which is why I usually play PC for more free games.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Well, just bought only game I was after this year

ZsGhehX.jpg


not exactly new, more a repeat buy but you know, there is a 20 year gap between purchases
 
Nov 3, 2021
10
1
15
Don't judge but basically every sims expansion as it comes out, and all the kits. I play leauge but its free so I get off lightly. :)
 

Eximo

Titan
Ambassador
Well, just bought only game I was after this year

ZsGhehX.jpg


not exactly new, more a repeat buy but you know, there is a 20 year gap between purchases

I did too. Nice to be able to alt-tab without the massive resolution jump. Kind of miss Pluggy, but they added stash sharing anyway, so that is cool.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
I did too. Nice to be able to alt-tab without the massive resolution jump. Kind of miss Pluggy, but they added stash sharing anyway, so that is cool.

You can see old graphics by pressing G
I like pressing F which is zoom and then G, blurry mess.
you can hold F and scroll mouse wheel to control levels of zoom
I still need more space but I starting to think I need no limits to make it work. I never want to throw anything away or sell things another class might use.