Hardly anyone finishes games – so why are they so long?
I investigated how often games are actually played through to the end. My findings shocked me.
When I’m feeling nostalgic, I sometimes scroll through my PS5 game library and reminisce. I also take a look at the trophies I’ve unlocked. On my last trip down memory lane, I noticed something shocking about one of my most-played games:
Only 25.1 per cent of all Red Dead Redemption 2 players have unlocked the trophy for completing the game.
That made me curious. I continued scrolling through the list of my longest-played titles and took a closer look at the trophy percentages. Each new discovery amazed me even more than the last.
Only 29.7 per cent of players finished Horizon Forbidden West. Only 20.1 per cent saw the end of Fallout 4. And just 16.8 per cent received the final trophy for GTA V.
Source: Domagoj Belancic
That can’t be true – does hardly anyone really play games all the way through? I wanted to find out for sure, and embarked on an exciting investigative journey full of statistics, achievements and trophies. Two points in particular interested me:
- Apart from the examples listed above, what’s the completion rate for games in general?
- Since my examples are all pretty expansive, are shorter games finished more often than longer ones?
Source: Rockstar Games
Here’s what I examined
To get an overview, I wanted to look at games that have a certain relevance and reach.
I decided to examine the 100 top-rated titles from the past two years (2024 and 2023) with regards to their completion rate. Mind you, I didn’t include Switch-exclusive games since they don’t offer trophies or achievements.
For reviews, I relied on the review aggregator opencritic.com. My list only includes full releases – no DLC, no re-releases on new platforms, no bundles with multiple games. Sports, multiplayer and live service games also aren’t included, since they don’t really end.
For average playing times, I used data from howlongtobeat.com, where users enter their playing times for individual games. For this evaluation, I looked at how long it takes players to complete the main story – in other words, no side quests or other bells and whistles. To ensure the validity of the data, I only included games with 100 or more user entries in the analysis.
To find out how many players have played a game, I used data from SteamDB and PSNProfiles. There, I can see what percentage of a game’s playerbase has earned certain trophies. Since most of the games on this list are available on PC, I primarily used Steam Achievements. If a game isn’t available on Steam or was first released on PlayStation, I switched to PlayStation trophies. I removed games without a clear award for completing the story from the list.
The results: shockingly few players finish their games
The following table features all the games I examined. Sort the games by average playing time, completion rate and rating. You can also search for a game to check if it’s in the list.
My own experience from the trophy list is confirmed: games are rarely ever completed.
On average, just 38.8 per cent of players finish their games – with a play time of 17.9 hours per game.
Next, I investigated whether there’s a correlation between the length of games and their completion rate. It’s reasonable to assume that shorter games are finished more often than longer games, after all.
Below, you can see all 100 games examined in a scatter chart. The Y-axis shows the completion rate as a percentage, the playing time is shown on the x-axis. The grey line shows that the data trends down. If you click on a dot, you can see which title is behind it (for mobile users: it’s best to zoom in and click).
There is a weak negative correlation (r = -0.24) between the length of a game and the completion rate. In other words,the shorter the game, the more often it’s finished.
For example, psychological horror drama Mouthwashing hit a strong completion rate of 79 per cent with a run time of just 2.5 hours. Monster RPG Baldur’s Gate III, on the other hand, was only completed by 22.9 per cent of players at 70.5 hours.
Source: Larian Studios
However, the correlation between length and completion rate is tenuous at best. Accordingly, there are many titles that speak against the thesis of «shorter = higher completion rate». A mere 8.5 per cent of the player base have shot their way through the compact solo campaign of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. In contrast, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth achieves a respectable 50.6 per cent despite a playing time of 57.5 hours.
Source: RGG Studio
In summary, it can be said that the completion rate for the games examined is low on average. The length of a game tends to have a negative effect on the completion rate. But the rather low correlation suggests that other factors also have an influence on completion rate.
Why are games rarely finished?
Even if my findings were surprising at first, I understand to a certain extent why completion rates tend to be low. Time is a valuable commodity that becomes increasingly scarce with age. And it’s a fact that the average gamer is getting older and older – including in Switzerland.
According to a study by the LINK Institute and gaming agency MYI, the average age of Swiss gamers is 39.1 years. On average, Swiss gamers spend six hours a week on their hobby.
This weekly allotment for gaming may sound like a lot at first – but if you put this figure in relation to the play time of the games evaluated, a different picture emerges. The average gamer has to plan around three months to complete the story of Baldur’s Gate III. To really see everything in the game, they’d need around seven months!
A lot can happen in seven months. Last year, almost 19,000 (!) new games were published on Steam alone – in comparison, it was still only 2,800 games ten years ago. How are you supposed to stay focused with this flood of titles and limited time to play? In addition, games are also in constant competition with shows, films and other entertainment products that vie for our attention and time.
Even I – someone who plays games for a living – have many titles on my pile of shame that I never finished because I was distracted by something new.
Plenty «forever games» – that is, older live service titles that are constantly being updated with new content – also pose a major problem of sorts. With the help of season passes and similar FOMO mechanics, the player base is tied to titles over a long period of time. A study from 2023 by Newzoo shows that most players – regardless of platform – invest their gaming time primarily in older forever games. Namely: Grand Theft Auto Online, Counter-Strike, Fortnite, Minecraft and Call of Duty.
According to the study, new single-player games only account for around 8 per cent of total playing times. Naturally – anyone who invests their weekly gaming budget primarily in perpetual multiplayer titles has little time to complete new games.
Source: Rockstar Games
Why are games so long, then?
What I can’t understand, however, is the perspective of publishers and developer studios. The data on the completion rates of games is publicly available. Against the backdrop of exploding AAA development costs, it seems out of place to spend millions and millions on the production of content that many players won’t see anyway.
So why are more and more games becoming gigantic? Why does Ubisoft, for example, release a monster like Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, offering an incredible amount of content (61 hours of playtime) that’ll only be explored by 4.4 per cent (!) of people?
I suspect that we, the players, are primarily to blame for this. Many gamers equate the length of a title with quality and value. When I look at the Steam reviews under shorter games, I keep coming across comments like this one for Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II: «7.1 hours and finished […]. The game is very short for $50 USD. Wait for a sale.»
Source: Steam
The result of this mindset is an increase in AAA games that are artificially stretched with unnecessary content so that the perceived price-performance ratio is worth it. Even single-player titles are becoming endless lifestyle games with time-consuming content, seasons and microtransactions.
This also affects shorter games, which have to compete with more and more time wasters. Nobody seems interested in whether anyone has time to actually play through all these releases.
Finishing games
Do you play all the way through the games you buy?
Header image: Larian Studios
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Domagoj Belancic
Senior Editor
Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.chMy love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.
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