Most people who buy games on Steam never play them
Digital Backlogs and “Tsundoku” for Games
- Many commenters report large libraries where 50–70%+ of games are unplayed or barely started.
- Common comparison to unread books, unused Udemy courses, unplayed board games, unworn clothes: seen as a general human behavior, not unique to games.
- Some embrace the idea of an “antilibrary” or aspirational collection; others see it as spending addiction or hoarding.
Bundles, Freebies, and Deep Discounts
- Humble Bundle, Epic/Prime/GOG giveaways, and publisher/bundle deals are cited as the main drivers of unplayed games.
- People often buy a bundle for one or two titles and passively accumulate the rest.
- Heavily discounted older AAA games encourage “buy now, maybe play someday” behavior; for some, money spent on unplayed games is small relative to full-price purchases.
Why Libraries Look “Unplayed”
- Several say they pirate first, then buy to support devs but continue playing the non‑Steam copy (for convenience, DRM-free, mods, offline use), so Steam shows 0 hours.
- Some buy games solely to support small studios, Linux ports, or indie creators, without intent to play soon (or at all).
- Libraries also include keys from friends, charity bundles, family sharing, games played before Steam tracked time, and asset-only purchases for open‑source remakes.
Sales, Psychology, and Value
- Disagreement over sales:
- One side sees sales as manipulative FOMO and a driver of wasteful collecting.
- Others argue sales are basic price discrimination, essential for lower-income players and late adopters.
- Factorio’s “no sales” stance is praised by some as honest and long-term oriented, but others note this only works for rare “evergreen” hits.
- Several stress that time, not money, is the real constraint; they have more money than free hours, so many games inevitably go untouched.
Interpretation of the Statistics and Title
- Multiple comments criticize the HN-submitted title as misleading: data support “most games people buy aren’t played,” not “most buyers never play anything.”
- The median player reportedly hasn’t played over half their library, suggesting typical users do play some games but accumulate many more than they use.