11% of gamers have unopened games, survey shows

by Randy Nelson { Oct 28th 2008 at 10:57PM }

Gamasutra has the results of a survey conducted by The NPD Group (better known for tracking game sales) that, among other things, includes a curious factoid: 11% of gamers own unopened games. We say "curious" because, as any gamer can attest to, it's not unusual to develop a "backlog" of games – then there's the collector factor.

Although this survey was of 562 gamers who purchased games in the past six months, there's no saying whether the 11% of cited shrink-wrap defenders didn't just find a rare gem at their local shop. Of course, we're also not ruling out that the sample group included 50 or so people who simply don't know how to get the cellophane off in the first place.

Do you have any games you still haven't cracked open lying around? If so, why?

Tags: npd, survey

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)

Bigfoot @ Oct 28th 2008 11:01PM

It's true. I have 4 un-opened games. Too many good games coming out recently doesn't help. :\

ejordan @ Oct 28th 2008 11:53PM

Rich s.o.b.

Jeremy White @ Oct 28th 2008 11:57PM

At first I thought the idea was strange, then realized I had two games that came in a "VALUE PACK" that I received as a gift that I never removed the cellophane from... I think they're called Power Drome and Ford Racing 2 or 3?

Night Elve @ Oct 29th 2008 1:22AM

Man my Assassin Creed copy is sitting there sealed and lonely, its only friend is the dust.

Bigfoot @ Oct 29th 2008 2:00AM

@Night Elve, I hope you play Assassin's Creed soon. It's such a good game.

#28 @ Oct 29th 2008 4:39AM

I really liked it, despite certain things about it.

Burritoclock @ Oct 29th 2008 10:13AM

I always have unopened games around the damn holidays since they squeeze all of them into a two month period. I have Fallout 3 and Far Cry 2 unopened, Little Big Planet will soon join them. I will get to them after Fable 2. Developers, September, October, and November are not the only months on the calendar.

Shagittarius @ Oct 29th 2008 11:57AM

The only unopened game I have sitting around is Metal Gear Solid, Collector's Edition.

However I have about 8 other games I haven't even started but did manage to tear the packaging off of to look at the manual.

Sam @ Oct 30th 2008 3:03PM

If by "unopened", you mean "unplayed pirated games", then I'm right there with you.

theb1rdm4n @ Oct 28th 2008 11:03PM

Like my friend who still has an unopened classic controller for his wii that he bought on launch day :)

Rein @ Oct 28th 2008 11:03PM

I pre-ordered Ar Tonelico like what, two years ago? 3? I don't know. Anyway, I haven't touched it since I got it...

However, my backlog of games is shrinking month by month, so hopefully I'll be able to actually start buying games again!

PatrickTheKing @ Oct 28th 2008 11:07PM

I have several unopened games.
There have been times when I've bought games at a retail store and they've given free games with it. Free games that I've had no interest in, yet I have yet to trade in for the $2 I'd get from them.
When I bought Gears of War I got a copy of the Outfit free. Unopened after 2 years.
When I bought Mass Effect I got a copy of Superman free. Again, unopened.

Pedobear @ Oct 29th 2008 12:34AM

When I got Halo 3, they gave me Fantastic 4, the game. Still shrink wrapped and even still in the Halo 3 branded bag I got it in.

monkeychow01 @ Oct 28th 2008 11:06PM

Movies? yes. Collector thing, and never got a chance to re-watch them. Saw them in theaters and haven't watched since I bought them.

Games? No, but I have a HORRIBLE habit for not FINISHING the games I buy. Call it ADD, but new things come out and I want to play them. The game has to REALLY hook me to get me to play it from start to finish without buying another game in between. Only a few handful have every accomplished that. But I attribute this to a ton of good games coming out.

Sora @ Oct 28th 2008 11:17PM

I have the same gaming ADD thing, the only games I've ever actually beaten are Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 2, New Super Mario Bros, Pokemon Red, Blue, Yellow, Silver, Crystal, Pearl, Stadium, Stadium 2, and all of the main storylines in each Guild Wars game. I'm not counting unlocking things like Rock Band songs or all stages/characters in Super Smash Bros as "beating" the games. Unfortunately, I've got a lot more games not beaten than beaten..

DBuck_Eye @ Oct 28th 2008 11:17PM

I'm the exact same way. I got the entire Good, Bad and Ugly movies for my birthday like 5 years ago and haven't taken off the shrink wrap.
As for games, I rarely finish games nowadays. It took me 2 years to beat Metroid Prime 2, 6 months to beat Twilight Princess, and I have only about 20 stars on Mario Galaxy. I never finished any of the fps's my brother has owned (with exception to MoH:Vanguard, and even then, I sort of wish I hadn't). I don't think that I've ever left a game unopened. The closing thing to that was LoZ:LttP on the virtual console. I played for 5 minutes when I first got it and never touched it again.

Misfit Toy @ Oct 29th 2008 12:03AM

This adds to the argument of games being too short. I think that is a ridiculous notion. I remember when Fable 1 came out and people complained about it being short. Well great! That means if I like it I can play it again! Not only that, but have hopes of finishing it in days rather than weeks or months. People just don't have that kind of time anymore.

I've only had one really long game that I've repeated ever in my 25 years of gaming, and that is Knights of the Old Republic.

endlesssorrow33 @ Oct 29th 2008 6:12AM

ADD sufferers unite!

I took 9 years to complete Final Fantasy 7.
After 3 computer crashes and reformats and several buggy "patches".

DBoyFlex @ Oct 29th 2008 9:37AM

Diddo that, bro. I maybe find great games at great deals, and never finish them just because something else just came out. I am also perpetually in the market for new games, even if I am really not. If I find a good deal on a game I wasn't specifically looking for, I may buy it, it will sit around, get played, then I will move on to something else. I need to finish some of my games. Hopefully the spring line up sucks as I am so backlogged right now it is ridiculous.

mr mobius @ Oct 29th 2008 12:48PM

Lets make a club!

Games I've completed are:

LOZ: Wind Waker
Super Mario 64 DS (never beat the N64 game)
Super Mario Galaxy (ie beat Bowser, and weirdly I'm prevailing to get 120 stars - unusual for me)
Pokemon Blue
Pokemon Silver
New Super Mario Bros

I have a few games sitting on the final boss fight (phantom hourglass, twilight princess, mario sunshine), some 1/2 completed, and some of the new games (resident evil 4 and okami) only 2-3 hours play because Mario Galaxy unexpectedly kept me playing longer than expected (and Resi because I spotted Okami in a shop - unusual - so knew I had to buy it.

finnith @ Oct 28th 2008 11:05PM

Upon doing a quick check I have an unopened copy of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon I got as a gift >.>

FOXHOUND @ Oct 28th 2008 11:06PM

I wish I could lie and say I have an unopened copy of CHRONO TRIGGER(SNES)... but, no. :\

SilverFireshot @ Oct 29th 2008 9:31AM

I'm the same way. Oblivion was the last game to really suck me in a cause me not to play anything else. Luckily, I just got Fallout and I'm hooked as much as I was with Oblivion so that should save me some money on games and allow me to actually finish one (after 100+ hours).

NemesisCW @ Oct 28th 2008 11:06PM

I'm guilty...
I still have Metroid Prime 3 and No More Heroes Still shrink wrapped. I just didn't have the time. Especially with what's coming out now.

Superstar90 @ Oct 28th 2008 11:07PM

Way to choose 2 of the most open-worthy games!

Seph X @ Oct 28th 2008 11:53PM

Huh... I dont see MGS4 and Halo 3 there...

(I might as well never opened my copy of bioshock)

Anticrawl @ Oct 29th 2008 12:07AM

It is a well known fact that if you open a copy of Bioshock you'll get trichinosis. What an awful game.

Superstar90 @ Oct 29th 2008 4:20PM

Are the PS3 ports really that bad?!

MillRecover @ Nov 3rd 2008 8:02PM

@Superstar90

Yeah, I agree. Both of those games are good. While Eternal Sonata didn't have the most gratifying ending, it was certainly different, and I think one of the first Turn Based combat games where I actually wanted to find enemies to fight.

Just my opinion.

& to stay on topic:
I open every game I get just to look at it,
even if I don't play it right away. I get a weird sense of gratification for physically holding and seeing something that I've wanted for a while.
( don't judge me! >O )

Haon @ Oct 28th 2008 11:07PM

The only reason why I have unopened games is because I run my wii and ps3 through a tv tuner. Games look even worse than usual so I go back to my 360(vga).

VicViper09 @ Oct 28th 2008 11:15PM

So let me get this straight, you bought a game for either the wii and ps3, played them through the TV tuner, saw that they look bad. Went back to a store and bought more wii and ps3 games, came home and remembered that those systems games look so bad (or i mean "worse than usual") that your not gonna even open them, or return them. So there for you go back to your 360 for what reason, vga? uh, SFB?

Haon @ Oct 28th 2008 11:36PM

I used to have my ps3 and wii at my job (great boss, 50" plasma). Have a monitor that doesn't support HDCP so no ps3 only 360 over vga. I dont return games. I buy to keep.

VicViper09 @ Oct 29th 2008 12:02AM

oh my, you buy to keep, so manly, so manly. I bet a lot of people respect you for that. It's good to have people like you to look up to, thanks man.

aerobica @ Oct 28th 2008 11:08PM

I'm not kidding when I say I have over 100 games unopened. I have a major problem.

I finally just got rid of my PSP. I had 25 games for it and TWO of them were opened. I FORCED myself to sell it on eBay.

sicsided @ Oct 28th 2008 11:23PM

i think you have a problem. seriously mate.

CubeGuy @ Oct 28th 2008 11:42PM

Let me know if you want help with your problem. =3

LiteSpecter @ Oct 28th 2008 11:11PM

I bought Crackdown a few weeks ago along with Bioshock and the Orange Box when ToysRus had the buy 2 get 1 free sale. Haven't opened Crackdown yet, waiting for a friend of mine to get a 360 so I can play co-op with him.

Professor Lario @ Oct 29th 2008 11:05AM

Aside from Saints Row 2, Crackdown is the most fun possibly on co-op. Enjoy. : )

Pasco @ Oct 29th 2008 1:49PM

I bought Crackdown to get in on the Halo 3 beta. It's still sealed. I hope I can still get in. :)

Arturo @ Oct 28th 2008 11:10PM

Wow, I'm going to get hell for this post from a friend of mine who always makes fun of me about this. I always have a huge backlog of stuff to play because I take forever unless it's something I've been wanting really badly.

I'm often guilty of playing games I'd sell earlier first since I know I'd want to keep the better ones for longer lol sigh.

Arturo @ Oct 28th 2008 11:14PM

Not to mention my fam and I just moved and now what was once just the living room is also the eating room (for now) which means everyone uses the tv more :(. And my dad got laid off so was home all the time and I looked lazy if I was just playing all day even though I have been job hunting. Luckily, he started working again phew. If things don't pick up though, I want to save for my own tv/big monitor and move all to my room instead (once somebody does finally hire me lol).

eNrique @ Oct 29th 2008 12:20AM

Still living with your parents???

You ashame me...

Arturo @ Oct 29th 2008 12:38AM

I'm only 21 and money is rather tough. I don't care for fashion or anything else really so I penny pinch to buy all my games and I've had a hard time landing a good job to be able to move out.

007craft @ Oct 29th 2008 11:01AM

I still live with my parents and im 24, and I have no intention of moving out within the next 2 years. Why move out when your 21 and struggle to save $20 for a movie once a month when you can sit at home for 5 years, making money (at a job of course) and move out into a house right away paying off half the price without having to throw money away on renting at an apartment.

Shagittarius @ Oct 29th 2008 12:02PM

Life is tough, time to move out.

Mitsuo @ Oct 28th 2008 11:10PM

I got 2 of the hitman games and the 4th installment of the first .hack installment unopenened. Well...their "opened" I just never touched them. Yay for being used.

AwesomeTown @ Oct 29th 2008 7:20AM

Ha, I have some games I got used I haven't touched either. Dead Rising, Condemned 2, and Kane and Lynch. One day, I'll play them. One day...

Blank-Mage @ Oct 28th 2008 11:11PM

I go with gamefly, so I have one unplayed game that's been there for about 2 weeks now. Other than that, I still haven't finished Oblivion.

Dirty @ Oct 28th 2008 11:33PM

I dont think anyone has finished Oblivion, the title couldnt be more fitting.

I start the quest and realize that if I jump everywhere I go I get better at jumping...weeeee!... oh whats this mages guild..... weeee!.... what the hell was I doing again, oh yea leveling up my sneaking skill on this unsuspecting shopkeeper...weeeee.

Great game though I will never know how it ends.