Most people who buy games on Steam never play them
A large share of games bought on Steam and other platforms are never launched, a pattern many users link to aggressive discounts, bundles, and free giveaways that encourage “backlog” collecting rather than intentional play. Commenters liken this to buying unread books or unused gear: a human tendency toward aspirational purchases, amplified by frictionless digital ownership and limited free time. Some argue sales primarily exploit FOMO and irrationality, while others see them as useful price discrimination that broadens access, with a minority deliberately buying games just to support developers even if they never plan to play.
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.