Acceptable game length

What is minimum game length acceptable to you for full price (70 USD)?

  • Flappy Bird

    Votes: 13 5.8%

  • 10 hours

    Votes: 70 31.0%

  • 20 hours

    Votes: 76 33.6%

  • 30 hours

    Votes: 32 14.2%

  • 50 hours

    Votes: 15 6.6%

  • 100 hours

    Votes: 5 2.2%

  • 200 hours

    Votes: 13 5.8%

  • Minecraft

    Votes: 2 0.9%
  • Total voters
    226
It really depends on the game on a case by case basis. I'm not a programmer or designer but that has to be difficult to figure out how long a game should be based on player interaction, immersion, pacing, and so many other factors. Games like GTA 4 and Red Dead 2 are these massive open world games where the fun is existing in the world. Seeing how it reacts and changes around you so exploration is encouraged along with its mission structure. Those games can easily go for 20-30 hour but a player could easily spend 100 of hours in those worlds. Platformers are usually 7-12 hours long but based on someone's skill level it could take them longer or even a shorter amount of time. Its a balance and one I think is hard to achieve when creating games. There are so many factors when it comes to game length, that I don't know if there is a right or wrong answer.
 
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Voted 200 hours, not many games are on that list, iirc it's just The Witcher 3, AC Valhalla and Fallout 4, but i have many games at 100+ hours, if the game world is good i can play many hours.
 
FalconPunch said:
15 hours is the sweet spot to finish the main game. Just give it some replay value. For example, optional side quests, meaningful decisions that affect the direction of the story, etc. I'll take 15 hours of well crafted content over 30-60 hours of bloat. Many games outstay their welcome by taking content for a 10-15 hour game and stretching it over 40+ hours.
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I was about to write the same first sentence 😅 . Since I played uncharted 4 and took notice it was around 14 hours that became my reference point of good , beautiful and tight (don't twist my word here guys !!)
 
Anything over 6 hours and I'm golden. There is no upper limit and I'm flexible on the lower limit.

I won't let silly arbitrary things get in they way of a good game.
 
Preferably 100+ hours

Short games can fuck off

kick fighting GIF by America's Funniest Home Videos
 
I have no firm rule. Though I'd say I probably want at least 20-30 hours if I'm buying at full price since I rarely replay games and am not a collector type.

Long bloated games are awful, but there have been plenty of long games I've enjoyed all or nearly all of my hours with so I mostly try to prioritize those for day one purchases and wait for sales on shorter games I want to play.
 
Wrong question. It is not about length, it is about quality and respecting your time. So I am voting Flappy Bird.
 
I cannot say a number but I do can say a game: Persona 5. It's a brilliant game, I don't mean the oposite, but it was the only game ever that felt too long on the first playthrough for me.
 
I can beat some of my favorite games of all-time in a few hours (Resident Evils, for example). And I find myself playing them over and over even years, decades later and they hold up.
 
It depends. I'm ok with Astro being it's length, but I'm also ok with Persona length. If you keep my interests, I'll play. The movemnt I feel I'm doing the same thing over and over, I'll check out and move on.
 
It depends on the game but sounds 30 is good enough, if the game is amazing I can take even 8, I felt the 16 I put into Metroid Dread at launch were more than worth it
 
34 year old working man. Anything less than 30 hours for $60/70 seems like a rip off to me and goes into wait for a sale territory, unless it's extremelly fucking replayable.
 
cireza said:
Wrong question. It is not about length, it is about quality and respecting your time. So I am voting Flappy Bird.
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I am assuming that there are enough review content available for games now a days that it's quite reliable to say you will like the game if you have bought it, question is are you perceiving that you are getting good value out of it for what you paid for it.
 
Game length for what type of games?
Story-focused single player games that cost $70 should be at least 20 hours min.
Arcade style games should be way shorter, but have tons of replay value and a MP component.
 
I just beat God of War Ragnarok and Dragon Age The Veilguard pretty much one after another and they're both 60 hours (unnecessarily) to do almost 100%. I'm tired of 50-60 hour games. Depending on the type game, either 10 or 20 is ideal.
 
I remember reading the reviews about the first Max Payne, stating that it only has a 10 hour campaign. Really had me struggling to buy it, but in the end I did. And boy did it deliver.

Anything below 10 hours, though .. Especially the 4-5 hours COD-games (I don't play multiplayer).

In other games like Persona 5, you play and play and suddenly hit the 120 hours mark without even noticing.

It really depends on the game in the end.
 
Kind of depends on what kind of game it is, but I voted at least 30 hours.
That's not to say there aren't shorter games that are good, but I'd rather wait for a shorter game to go on sale while playing the longer one I bought at full price.
 
I think 20-ish hours is the lowest I'd go for a full price game, mostly. 30 hours is perfectly acceptable. It just depends on the game. Like if the next devil may cry game was like 18 hours I'd buy it at 70.
 
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It depends on the genre. If it is a non stop action game, then I expect 10-20 hours.
But if it is a RPG, where there is generally also slower parts, it should be at least 40 hours.
I actually have very little time, but in a RPG the story is the most important part for me and I don't think in a RPG under 30-40 hours it's possible to tell a complex story with many turns.
 
For me its none so long as its not overly short (<5hours) and of very high quality. I find unless a game mechanic is so good and/or narrative wise is exceptional, I tend to go lose interest in games that are overly long; like 25h+ ones.

There are exceptions to those with really fun and addictive gameplay where I like to play around with the mechanics, enviroments and sometimes Ai - i.e sandbox or puzzle-like games. Or just generally really well crafted ones like Elden Ring where there's no practically not much filler and its all designed with purpose.
 
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10-20 is the absolute goldilock zone for me. Maybe 30-40 for RPGs (like Mass Effect). Everything over that I find only rarely appealing. Oblivion, Skyrim and Elden Ring were such exceptions.
 
Guess I prefer my story games 15-20-25 hours length that I can play trough over Friday night and weekend
But then again it is impossible to say, some good games are shorter, some less good games are just not short enough, and some are just tedious with bloated length, neither is good
 
It's a hard one to gauge and totally depends on the game and how much it pulls me in..

TLOU2, absofuckinglutely loved every minute of it, but by fuck it was an emotional slog getting through the near 30hrs, it could have easily been cut down to 20 and still would've been brilliant

Horizon Forbidden West, loved it again and played over 60hrs and could have kept going tbh, same with BG3 & Cyberpunk

Nowadays i only get an hr or two here and there, have tried a few times to get into RD2, i'm about 50hrs in and i find it an utter slog and have shelved it waiting on a Ps5 60fps patch to try again (yeah i know)
 
A great game will have essentially infinite playtime. A walking simulator type game that doesn't want to wear out its welcome need to keep that shit at like 10 hours max... maybe 20 if there's some actual gameplay sprinkled in.
 
I tend to mostly play story based action-adventure games and about 15 hours is good for me. Beyond that and the gameplay and/or story starts feeling bloated and I'm ready to finish it.

Value in a game is so subjective though, especially when talking about how many hours it gives you. The game I've dumped the most hours in over the last 2 years has been Vampire Survivors( even though I haven't played it in a couple months), and I'm about to dump alot more time in it starting tomorrow with the Castlevania DLC.
 
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Fifteen minutes to half an hour. That's what bullet hell shooters like Ketsui or Dodonpachi last... after you spend dozens of hours trying to clear it with one credit.

Ketsui PS3 = Best $60 import i've spent money in.
 
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I vomit in my mouth a little when I think .. what if metal gear solid was padded with fetch quests to make it longer..
🤮

The proper length to any game is exactly how long it takes for that game to be great.
 
Depends on genre, and from game to game. You can't ask the same duration for a cod campaign than for a witcher, or a classic mario. And where do we put games like factorio or total war? Judging from hours of possible playtime, they could cost a liver?
 
Game length should always be dictated by how long it takes for the developers to show you through the depths of the mechanics, or in the case of a story heavy game, how long it takes for the story to reach it's logical conclusion. Seeking a particular length in terms of hour-count is misguided and reduces games to being software instead of art.

Space Marine 2's campaign is like 5 hours and it's WAY too long because the gameplay is incredibly shallow and empty.
 
I am surprised at the no. of votes for 10 horus, looks like devs are focusing on completely wrong stuff.
 
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