New Game De-Hype

You know how a highly anticipated title will release and everyone is super excited to play it, but then most people stop playing it after like a week or two tops? What’s that phenomenon called? It’s similar to the MMO 3 monther except it mostly occurs with non-MMO titles.

It happens all the time with games like Call of Duty, Titanfall, sometimes Battlefield, or even a couple MMOs… to be honest I think Wildstar was a 3 weeker. Titanfall in particular I played for maybe a week.  I’m seeing a trend now that I think about it… shooters tend to be that way. I’m also guilty of it in games like Mario Kart and Pokemon. So it’s not an issue of the games sucking — some definitely do, though.

No hook? Good enough to enjoy then put down? New game comes out then two weeks later another new game comes out? I’m trying to figure this one out. Give me your thoughts if you too have observed the huge excitement for a game to release only to play it briefly and put it down.

  • I’ve always been a big believer that the increased competition for our entertainment dollars plays a fairly big role in this phenomena. This isn’t restricted to just video games either. In the digital age everything is at our fingertips. I think people’s attention just is pulled in every direction by all of the shiny new things. It is the age of the ADD consumer.

    Of course this intertwines nicely with game content. People have so many entertainment options these days they don’t stick around for games to flesh out content after release. FFXIV and Wildstar are both recent examples of this. Shooters always suffer from this. FFXIV in particular is looking to be a well rounded game come the expansion next spring. But who will bother going back to play? There is such a big perceived barrier for customers to go back to playing a game they already have quit. Second chances are hard to come by.

  • I agree with Phandy. I have noticed the same thing. Despite immensely enjoying certain games (the most recent being super smash bros for 3DS) I will only play them for a short while, then find myself moving on to something else.

    It did not use to be this way either. When I was a kid, I played diablo 2 and starcraft 1 for years, only taking breaks for other games then coming back, or playing other games to take a break from those. Same thing with the original DotA W3 mod, though that was about the last one. After that, It just seems like theres way to many games out there. I find it hard to even beat enjoyable RPG’s anymore without forcing myself to sit down and do it, and I do have to force myself DESPITE enjoying the game itself.

    I am not sure if it’s just there’s more out there, if games don’t have the hook anymore, or if it’s just getting older… but I have definitely noticed it.

  • As more games only slightly differ from the last game they try to improve on.
    People enjoy the new bits, until they get used to the game and the new paint job wears off.
    Only to see their same old car underneath.

    Of course they get boring quickly, when they realize this

    The big publishers do not care they get your money either way.
    They prefer you get bored quickly so you buy more games.

    For that reason they hated seeing skyrim.
    People kept playing it and it hurt their sales of other games during that period.