The gaming industry is facing a growing issue – game backlogs. Many players struggle to keep up with their ever-growing collection of unfinished or unplayed titles. However, analysts and developers are starting to shift towards creating shorter games that cater to players’ time constraints.
According to Rhys Elliott, analyst from Midia Research, the trend towards longer games has been an “insidious creep over time.” Games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla have taken around 60-100 hours to complete, while some top-rated games since 2020 can take at least 60 hours. However, Rhys believes that this approach may be reaching its limits.
“The growing development timelines and budgets that are fuelling these longer games have reached a point of diminishing returns,” he says. “And this suggests that the increasing price points for games haven’t kept pace with the rising costs.”
Developer Carrie Patel from Obsidian argues that companies can find success by making shorter games, like Avowed, which has around 15 hours of core content and an additional 40+ hours of optional content.
“We know everybody has plenty of options, plenty of things to do with their time,” says Carrie. “So we want everything that they find in our games to feel worth their time.”
The shift towards shorter games could be a response to the growing backlogs and the changing expectations of players. With many games offering high replay value, players are looking for experiences that can be completed in a reasonable amount of time without sacrificing quality.
As Rhys notes, “If you just want to blast through it, you can go for it, and you still get the full experience.” This approach could lead to more experimentation with shorter game lengths, ultimately benefiting both developers and players.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxklzlxxwyo